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KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghanistan (news - web sites)'s constitutional convention agreed on a historic new charter on Sunday, overcoming weeks of division and mistrust to hammer out a compromise meant to bind together the war-ravaged nation's mosaic of ethnic groups. AP Photo AFP Slideshow: Afghanistan Just a day after warning that the meeting, or loya jirga, was heading toward a humiliating failure, chairman Sibghatullah Mujaddedi announced that last-ditch diplomacy had secured a deal. After the new draft was circulated, the 502 delegates gathered under a giant tent in the Afghan capital rose from their chairs, standing in silence for about 30 seconds to signal their support for the new charter. "Let's promise before God and our people to implement this constitution," Mujaddedi said. "If we don't, it will bring us no good." The charter was amended to grant official status to northern minority languages where they are most commonly spoken, an issue which had brought the meeting close to collapse. U.N. Special Representative Lakhdar Brahimi and U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad hailed the accord. "It's a huge success for the people of Afghanistan," Brahimi said, although he added that there was work to do to repair the "bruises" from the ethnic debate. "It's a good framework," Khalilzad said. President Hamid Karzai was to make a speech to the gathering later Sunday. Sidiq Chakari, a Tajik delegate and spokesman for faction leader and former President Burhanuddin Rabbani, who had taken part in a boycott Thursday, said the deal was a milestone on the way to peace.
Approximate Word count = 882
Approximate Pages = 3.5
(250 words per page double spaced)
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