Afghan Council Votes to Extend President’s Term

A national council of religious scholars, tribal leaders and intellectuals voted Wednesday to keep Afghanistan’s interim President Burhanuddin Rabbani in power. Other rebel chiefs said his reelection will bring more civil war.

Rabbani’s reelection became a foregone conclusion after two contenders, fundamentalist rebel leader Yunis Khalis and moderate spiritual leader Sayed Ahmad Gailani, dropped out of the race. They boycotted the assembly and accused Rabbani’s government of buying votes.

The assembly, known as the Council for Resolution and Settlement, decided overwhelmingly, 916 to 59, to let Rabbani remain in office for another 18 months. But 360 delegates refused to vote.

Rabbani’s administration will spend the next 18 months drafting a new constitution and preparing the ground for nationwide elections in mid-1994, the first since the 1978 Marxist revolution.