Posted on 12/18/2005 5:45:02 PM PST by LdSentinal
KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 18, 2005 (AP Online delivered by Newstex) -- Sayyad Mohammad Muhsin, a former militia fighter, came ready for his new role in parliament with his goals handwritten on both sides of a small sheet of paper.
"The people in my province are very poor; they have no roads, they have no good schools," Muhsin read, speaking at an orientation for new parliamentarians earlier this month. "We must put the ethnic arguments and other differences behind us ... Now is the time to sit together and solve the problems of our people."
After its inauguration Monday, Afghanistan's first elected national assembly in 30 years has similarly tough challenges and lofty goals ahead.
Formation of the assembly marks the last major step on an internationally sponsored path to democracy and stability laid out after the ouster of the Taliban in 2001. But like other parts of Afghanistan's recovery, the political process still faces high hurdles thrown up by a quarter-century of war.
For some legislators, just sitting together will be excruciating.
Many members are warlords or other members of armed groups involved in years of fighting and forceful regional rule. Some are accused of human rights abuses. Anger over past wrongs likely will intensify ethnic, political and ideological differences that could lead to conflict in parliament.
"It's going to be very difficult for communities that feel that they have been on the receiving end of violence ... to see the very people they hold responsible standing up in parliament and giving speeches about the future of the country," said Paul Fishstein, director of the Afghan Research and Evaluation Unit, a research center run by foreign aid donors, non-governmental organizations and other groups.
President Hamid Karzai added to concerns about the presence of warlords with upper house appointees including his one-time defense minister Mohammed Fahim, a former Northern Alliance leader whom the group Human Rights Watch has implicated in abuses.
Another potentially crippling legacy of the past may be inexperience with the day-to-day process of elective democracy.
Afghan leaders traditionally have convened influential figures in policy-forming loya jirgas, or grand councils.
"This is going to be a new exercise for most people," Fishstein said. "There's not a clear and consistent understanding of what a parliamentarian does."
Karzai is likely to have strong support, but there is plenty of room for debate and opposition.
All members of the lower parliament house were elected as individuals, not party members _ a system that could make legislation painstaking and contentious. Shifting alliances and the need to assemble support for every action may slow the process.
The parliament also will test Afghanistan's ability to overcome deep rifts _ some dating back centuries, some to the era of Soviet-backed government and some to Taliban rule.
Then there are tribal, ethnic and religious splits, including tension between Sunni and minority Shiite Muslims and between more conservative and more secular Afghans. Social issues such as education and movies are likely to be prominent subjects.
Also likely to be prominent is the issue of foreign military forces in Afghanistan, where some 20,000 U.S.-led forces are fighting a persistent and deadly Taliban insurgency.
Afghans filled the 249-seat National Assembly, or Wolesi Jirga, in September elections widely seen as a success despite the killings of a handful of candidates and fraud allegations. Voters also elected provincial councils that chose two-thirds of the 102-seat upper chamber, the Meshrano Jirga.
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