Politics In Depth

Afghanistan Reaches Another Milestone

December 22, 2005

Four years after the start of the War on Terrorism, the country convenes its elected parliament.

Abstract: (Angus Reid Global Scan) Wilson Lam - On Dec.

(Angus Reid Global Scan) Wilson Lam - On Dec. 19, for the first time in 32 years, Afghanistan opened its parliament to politicians who had been elected by the country's citizens. "This immortal phoenix, this beloved Afghanistan, once again rose from the ashes of invasion and subjection," Afghan president Hamid Karzai said in his debut address to the legislators. U.S. vice-president Dick Cheney and his wife, Lynne, were in attendance for the elected parliament's inaugural assembly.

Peace has come incrementally to Afghanistan since the interim government was established in 2001. Economic, social, and infrastructural issues remain a considerable concern. But after some twenty-five years of civil strife, the election of the 249 members to the parliament's lower chamber, the House of the People, is seen as a significant step forward for the fledgling democracy. Karzai urged patience and cooperation, and appealed to the international community to maintain its support for the country. "Without unity," Karzai acknowledged in his speech, "we cannot solve these kinds of problems."

While it is called the lower chamber, the House of the People is responsible for approving cabinet and senior appointments and is therefore considered to be more important than the upper chamber, the House of Elders.

Afghanistan has endured decades of political instability, during which the country found itself variously controlled by a gamut of local warlords and foreign powers and religious fanatics. Following the Soviet withdrawal from the country in 1989, the Taliban rose to prominence, enforcing ever more fundamentalist interpretations of Islamic laws as it controlled expanding tracts of the country. Around 1996, the Taliban declared Afghanistan to be an "Islamic Emirate."

While Afghan minorities, primarily those based in the north of the country, banded together to resist the Taliban, Osama bin Laden found affinity and refuge with the militant-spiritual group and orchestrated from the country the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. in 2001.

A U.S.-led coalition initiated military retaliations against the Taliban after the regime refused to acquiesce to demands to hand over bin Laden. Though bin Laden was never captured, the Taliban was driven from power. The interim government, headed by Karzai, was set up following the end of major military operations. The country's new constitution was adopted in 2004 and Karzai was elected president in October of the same year.

In a stark contrast to Iraq, where former members of Saddam Hussien's Baath party, most of whom were Sunni Muslims, have been largely shut out of the new political process, Afghanistan has chosen a different route. The leaders of Afghanistan have encouraged local and tribal elders, many of whom fought fiercely against each other in past, to participate in the democratic exercise.

Some have found this inclusiveness difficult to accept. "I offer my condolences to the people of our country for the presence of warlords, drug lords, and criminals [in the parliament]," said Malalai Joya, a 27-year-old delegate who is also one of 68 women in the lower chamber. But, compared with Iraq, where the dissatisfaction of those excluded has fueled the violence that still rages, it is inarguable that Afghanistan is relatively calm.

Following Karzai's address—which was described by legislator Safia Siddiqi as "a strong message for the people of Afghanistan.a message of unity"—parliament was adjourned. Events on Dec. 20, both within the reconvened parliament and beyond its walls, reaffirmed how far the country had come since the ouster of the Taliban and the great lengths of the journey towards stability that still remain.

Legislators disagreed over parliamentary procedures and, rather than resort to arms as they had done over disputes in a previous time, they argued relentlessly. In the end, not many were particularly pleased with the results but such, perhaps, are the workings of democracy. A more sobering reminder of the security problems that still dog the country's progress was a suicide attack that injured three North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) peacekeepers and a number of civilians in Kabul.