The gathering is scheduled for Sunday and members of the Loya Jirga, or traditional grand council, that endorsed a new constitution in January 2004, have been invited.

"A series of issues including a strategic partnership with the United States will be discussed," said Khaliq Ahmad, an official in the president's office. He declined to elaborate on what "strategic partnership" meant.

The assembly that drafted the constitution, made up of representatives of ethnic groups and regions, is the closest thing Afghanistan has to a parliament until a national assembly is formed after a Sept. 18 election.

The question of relations with the United States, in particular whether U.S. forces should be given permanent bases, has sparked debate in recent weeks in a country with a long history of resisting foreign intervention.

The possibility of permanent bases came to the fore in February when U.S. Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican, said during an Afghan visit they would be in the interests of U.S. and regional security.

President Hamid Karzai had appeared to favor permanent bases and his defense minister said Afghanistan was eager for "enduring arrangements" with the United States and possibly permanent air bases.

Karzai, asked about bases at a news conference with visiting Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last month, sidestepped the question saying he planned to ask President Bush for long-term security protection for Afghanistan.

But later Karzai said while he wanted a broad security arrangement with the United States, permanent bases may not be in the national interest.

U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001 and overthrew the Taliban after they refused to hand over Osama bin Laden, architect of the Sept. 11 attacks.

About 18,300 U.S.-led forces, most of them Americans, remain.

While Washington says it wants to prevent Afghanistan becoming a "breeding ground for terrorists," the country also has strategic significance given its border with Iran and its proximity to Central Asian energy sources.

Many Afghans are happy to see U.S. troops providing security until their own army can, but many also have doubts about permanent bases.