KABUL, Afghanistan (AP)--Afghanistan's constitutional council erupted

in chaos Wednesday, with one delegate denouncing her colleagues as

``criminals'' and others threatening to walk out in a dispute over

whether to adopt a presidential system.

After three days of hopeful speeches and some low-level procedural

squabbling, the outbreaks were a sharp reminder of the fractured

politics that dominate Afghanistan after more than two decades of

conflict.

The constitutional council, or loya jirga, is being billed as a

historic opportunity to shape a new and democratic system for this

war-ravaged land. It is also a powder-keg of factionalism and a forum

to air the grievances of a nation still beset by Taliban insurgents

and controlled by warlords.

The council's morning session began with fireworks after a scathing

speech by Malalai Joya, a female delegate from western Farah

province, who decried the positions of influence given to faction

leaders such as former President Burhanuddin Rabbani and Abdul Rasul

Sayyaf, a deeply conservative Islamist.

Both men won election to the jirga, while others, like northern

strongman Abdul Rashid Dostum were appointed by U.S.-backed President

Hamid Karzai. Rabbani and Sayyaf were both named to head important

subcommittees at the jirga.

``Why have you again selected as committee chairmen those criminals

who have brought these disasters for the Afghan people?'' shouted an

angry Joya. ``In my opinion they should be taken to the world

court.''

Many of the commanders who fought the Soviets in the 1980s still

control provincial fiefdoms and have been accused of human rights

abuses and corruption. After ousting the Soviets, the militias turned

on each other in a brutal civil war that destroyed most of the

capital, Kabul.

Human rights groups and others have warned that Karzai will bargain

away too much to the men in return for their support for a

presidential system, while others say it is essential to keep them in

the fold.

Joya's comments, which stopped only after her microphone was turned

off, sparked outrage among the hard-liners and their supporters, who

denounced her as a communist and demanded she be removed from the

session amid shouts of ``God is great!''

Council chairman Sibghatullah Mujaddedi, a Karzai ally, ordered Joya

thrown out, saying she had ``disturbed this jirga and been very

rude.''

As Joya resisted security guards that had come to accompany her out,

Rabbani made a call for tolerance and she was allowed to remain.

The clash came a day after other women at the jirga complained of

receiving second-class treatment from their colleagues. None of the

100 women delegates were elected to leadership posts in voting

Tuesday, though one was later appointed as a fourth deputy chairman.

Rabbani's supporters caused Wednesday's other controversy, with many

accusing the government of trying to force them to accept a

presidential system, which they say could put too much power in

Karzai's hands. Many in the assembly are calling for the creation of

a powerful prime minister's post to blunt some of the president's

influence--something Karzai has come out strongly against.

Several delegates threatened a walkout over the issue, and others

signed a petition Wednesday saying the power structure of a new

government should be decided before the council takes up other hot-

button issues, such as women's rights and the role of Islam in a

future state.

``A large group of delegates stood and shouted that they would walk

out if the jirga continues in this manner (without a decision on the

prime minister),'' Mohammed Daoud, a delegate from Bamiyan, told The

Associated Press. The session was closed to the media.

About 200 of the 500 loya jirga delegates signed a petition calling

for a quick decision on whether to create a prime minister, said

delegate Hafiz Mansour, a Rabbani supporter and editor of a Northern

Alliance weekly newspaper.

But Karzai played down the controversy, saying a walkout was

unlikely.

``I don't think they'll walk out of the jirga,'' he said on the steps

of his palace office. ``The jirga will go on, and it depends on the

delegates of the jirga what they decide.''

He called Rabbani a ``very sensible man,'' adding: ``I don't think

that he would let his people do something like that.''

The council met under intense security amid warnings by the U.S.

military that Taliban rebels might try to target the gathering. Early

Tuesday, three rockets slammed into Kabul, but none landed near the

site of the council.

That night, gunmen shot a German peacekeeper as he approached them on

a darkened street, said peacekeeping spokesman Lt. Col. Joerg Langer.

His bulletproof vest protected him from injury, and the gunmen

escaped.

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