The Taliban have threatened to target the loya jirga, a national assembly of 2,000 elders, which President Hamid Karzai called to seek a mandate for ongoing talks with the United States on a controversial strategic partnership.
But questions remain about the scope and purpose of the meeting. Its outcome is not binding on Karzai, and the proposed partnership with the United States is still some way from agreement.
The president took his seat among the crowd of delegates shortly before the four-day event formally opened with a recitation of verses from the Koran and the Afghan national anthem, an AFP reporter saw.
Karzai insists that Afghans favour a deal with the United States "provided that Afghan national sovereignty and the constitution is upheld and the agreements help strengthen peace and stability".
He also said he would formally announce the second wave of locales set to transfer from Nato to Afghan security control at the jirga on Wednesday.
This is part of a process in which all foreign combat forces will leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014. Afghan officials have previously said that up to 17 places are expected to be named in the latest phase of the handover.
Following a string of high-profile attacks in Kabul and a rocket attack at the last loya jirga in 2010, Afghan officials have imposed smothering security.
Those attending faced multiple security checks with presidential guards posted on the roof of the sturdy tent and police on maximum alert.
"Today, the Afghan security forces are on highest state of alert and fortunately we have not had any incidents so far to disrupt the loya jirga," Kabul police spokesman Hashmat Stanikzai said.
A demonstration in central Kabul to protest against the US presence in Afghanistan was broken up by authorities.
The Taliban said this week that those supporting a long-term US presence in Afghanistan at the jirga would be considered "national traitors" and "deserving of harsh penalties".
Some of those taking part said they had received threatening text messages.
On Monday, a suspected suicide bomber carrying a bag of explosives was shot dead near the jirga tent, a day after the Taliban leaked a supposed security plan for the event. Afghan and Western officials said it was a fake.
The US-Afghan strategic partnership, which diplomats hoped would be concluded by now, will govern ties between the two countries after 2014.
But talks are thought to have snagged on issues including the extent of US support for Afghan security forces, which will take full responsibility for the country's security in three years, and base rights for American forces.
Karzai is using the jirga to secure a "very general mandate" to pursue negotiations with the US, according to one Western diplomat.
But key figures, such as Karzai's main rival, Abdullah Abdullah, and former ally, Soviet-era warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum, are boycotting the event as "unconstitutional" because of the way those taking part have been appointed.
Analysts say a lack of transparency in the jirga's agenda has provoked some suspicion about Karzai's motives for going ahead with it.
"The delegates themselves have been left mystified as to what exactly they will be discussing and why," wrote Kate Clark of the Afghanistan Analysts Network in a blog post Wednesday.
Many Afghans believe they were abandoned by the United States after the collapse of the Soviet Union, following the end of the US and Pakistani-sponsored mujahedeen war against Soviet troops in the 1980s.
As the United States eyes the exit 10 years after its own invasion of Afghanistan, Karzai wants to prevent a repeat scenario by securing guarantees of financial support.
The jirga is also expected to discuss efforts to hold peace talks with the Taliban following the assassination of Karzai's peace envoy Burhanuddin Rabbani in Kabul in September, which officials blamed on the militia.
This prompted Karzai to review his peace policy and say he would leave it up to the jirga to decide future steps.
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@j. von.. here is the answer for u already that there was nothing like third term for Karzai or something special for him. The Jirga was accomplished successfully without any terrorist activity and we the Afghans are happy that we have proven to all our enemies that we are united and we can defend ourselves efficiently with a condition that if there in no FORIEGN EVIL hand used in AFGHANISTAN.....
"The lack of transparency in the jirga’s agenda has provoked some suspicion about Karzai’s motives for going ahead with it". It wouldn't surprise me if Karzai wanted to persuade the attendees of the loya jirga to change the consitution, so that he could run for a third term, when his tenure expires in 2014.
Karzai will harm his own people for his self-preservation in whatever form. Imagine that influential and significant players in Afghan politics are boycotting whilst peaceful demonstrations are being broken up, whereas Quisling Karzai protected by sharpshooters from foreign lands, is discussing establishment of foreign bases and troops in Afghanistan post 1914. He thinks he is Afghanistan's Bismark. Go figure??