Jane Arraf: Afghan factions vie for power

CNN's Jane Arraf

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- The start of a conference to decide the future power structure of Afghanistan has been delayed for 24 hours.

The official explanation for Monday's postponement of the loya jirga was "logistical reasons." But sources close to the proceedings said the delay is over what role Afghanistan's former king, Mohammed Zahir Shah, will play in the transitional government.

CNN's Jane Arraf has more on the developments from the Afghan capital.

ARRAF: Nobody said this was going to be simple or easy, and, in fact, it's proving a little more complicated than anyone had thought. The openings of this loya jirga, a grand assembly, have been postponed for 24 hours.

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You can probably see this huge tent behind me. In there are more than 1,500 delegates, and all the components that will make up a new Afghanistan -- the people who will decide on the shape of the government, who will lead it and all sorts of other things that will carry this country forward.

Understandably, that's a big job. And one of the most difficult elements of that is deciding who will actually head the government. That seems to be one of the problems in this postponement.

There's a jockeying for position among the supporters of the ex-king, who has come back from exile, and the head of the interim government, Hamid Karzai, who's backed by the United States.

In addition, there are a lot of warring tribes, a lot of different factions in that big tent, and they all have to be satisfied. The feeling is that they have to come to some sort of agreement before they even get this thing off the ground.