U.S. forces drawn into deadly gunbattle

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Suspected al-Qaida fighters ambushed Afghan security forces near the Pakistani border Saturday, and U.S. forces were drawn into the deadly gunbattle that ensued, a local commander said.

A senior Afghan intelligence official and six attackers were killed at the scene in eastern Khost province, said Khial Baz, a military commander in Khost.

The Afghan officials were traveling in a pickup truck when they came under fire. The province's deputy intelligence chief was killed instantly and his boss, Qudratullah Madezai, was seriously hurt, Baz said.

The rest of the passengers opened fire along with U.S. reinforcements killing six attackers.

The assailants appear to have been Arabs fighting for al-Qaida. Documents found on the bodies were in Arabic, Baz said.

The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. David W. Barno, said that hundreds of al-Qaida fighters still appear to be active in Khost and neighboring provinces on the long Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The area has seen a wave of attacks this year by insurgents believed to be a mix of Taliban, al-Qaida and fighters loyal to renegade Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

New constitution debate

The attacks came as debate over Afghanistan's new constitution soured Saturday.

Government allies accused religious hard-liners of trying to pepper the charter with strict Islamic laws and sides disagreed over how much power should be given to the future presidency.

President Hamid Karzai and U.S. officials are hoping the talks will end with a draft awarding sweeping powers to the country's chief executive in a tolerant Islamic state.

But they face deepening opposition from powerful leaders of armed factions who fought the Soviet occupation in the 1980s under the banner of Islam and still hold sway in the provinces.

Ashmat Ghani, a member of the so-called reconciliation committee and brother of the country's finance minister, said there was a solid majority for a presidential system.

But he said Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, a deeply conservative Islamist, was "trying to put the word of Islam into every article."

Karzai and U.S. ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad have warned against an unworkable confusion of parliamentary and presidential systems. Afghans well remember how presidents and prime ministers fought each other during the 1992-96 civil war which ended with Taliban rule.

Still, Ghani conceded there was broad support at the council for bolstering a parliament and room for compromise.