Afghan official floats idea of overhauling constitution

April 19, 2012 1:41 PM PT

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WASHINGTON -- Afghanistan’s government is floating the idea of an overhaul of the country’s Western-influenced constitution to try to draw militants into peace talks.

Mohammed Masoom Stanekzai, general secretary of the Aghan High Peace Council, said Thursday in Washington that he raised the idea with representatives of the militant group Hezb-i-Islami when they met this month.

He told them that while they might be unhappy with some provisions of the 8-year-old document, “any constitution will change at some point,” he told a group of reporters. Afghan citizens “should decide what kind of constitution they want.”

While Stanekzai’s comments could be encouraging to militants, they may also stir concern among Western officials who view the constitution as a bulwark of democratic protections in a country with a history of harsh authoritarian government. The 160-article document guarantees protections to women and minorities, and provides for freedom of speech and assembly.

U.S. officials have declared that the Taliban and other militant groups must accept the constitution if they are going to participate in the peace negotiations.

Stanekzai did not specify which sections of the constitution he thought Afghans might want to rewrite.

The document has come under attack from various corners of Afghan society, including for the way it distributes power and the role it gives to various Afghan languages and cultures.

On another subject, Stanekzai complained about an article in Wednesday’s Los Angeles Times that accompanied photos of U.S. troops posing with body parties of dead militants. Stanekzai said the article risked provoking more violence against the government and U.S. troops.

“We have to be careful,” he said.

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-- Paul Richter

World Now

Paul Richter

Paul Richter covered the State Department and foreign policy for the Los Angeles Times out of its Washington, D.C., bureau. He previously covered the Pentagon, the White House and, from New York City, the financial industry. He was raised in Minneapolis and Washington, D.C., and graduated from Clark University. He left The Times in 2015.