Kabul, Afghanistan ? Afghanistan’s constitutional convention came off the rails Thursday, as panicked officials adjourned the gathering in the face of a boycott by opponents of President Hamid Karzai.

The delay was the most severe setback yet to this war-ravaged nation’s attempt to put its vision of a secure future on paper, and raises real concern that the historic gathering will end in failure.

Critics blamed the government for its insistence on a strong presidency, and its unwillingness to hear minority demands on such emotive issues as language rights. Others point to the machinations of warlords and faction leaders seeking a new niche if Karzai wins the powers he is seeking.

“There are several fundamentalists at work here,” Mirwais Yasini, the loya jirga’s deputy chairman, told The Associated Press. “The jihadi groups all want a share of the power.”

The 502 delegates have spent nearly three weeks wrangling over a draft constitution presented by Karzai’s U.S.-backed government back in November.

Frustrated by the lack of agreement, council chairman Sibghatullah Mujaddedi called a vote early Thursday on the first of a slew of disputed amendments.

More than half of the delegates cast ballots on issues including how far to liberalize the economy and how many parliament seats to reserve for women and members of the country’s impoverished nomadic tribe, the Kuchis.

But some 200 members, mostly from the Tajik and Uzbek dominated north of the country, stayed in their seats and refused to leave for lunch in a surprisingly resolute rebellion.

Even Abdul Rashid Dostum, an Uzbek warlord, and Karim Khalili, a Karzai deputy and ethnic Hazara faction leader, were shouted down when they appealed to the delegates to take part.

Mahsa Toyie, a Tajik delegate from the western city of Herat, accused Karzai’s government of trying to push through a charter that ignores the claims of small minorities.

“This constitution is not for one tribe, it is for the whole country,” she said.