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Another milestone in Afghanistan�s march to democracy Published on April 01, 2006
Last week, Afghanistan marked another milestone in its march to democracy by inaugurating its first popularly elected national assembly in more than 30 years. This was the final step in the transition to democracy agreed at an international conference in Bonn, Germany, in 2001. Milestones along the way have included the adoption of a new constitution in 2003, the election of Hamid Karzai as president and the formation of a new government in 2004, and the holding of general elections in September of this year.
A national parliament last sat in Afghanistan in 1973, before a coup ended centuries of rule by the monarchy as well as the country�s experiment with democracy that had begun with its first freely-elected parliament in 1965.
The event reminded many Afghans of the 1960s and early 1970s, a period remembered as the most peaceful and prosperous in the country�s history. One reason was the presence of former king Muhammad Zaher Shah (now bearer of the title �Father of the Nation� according to the new constitution) who addressed the inaugural session in the same way he used to do in bygone days. Another was the setting of both the opening ceremony and the swearing in of the new MPs in Afghanistan�s old parliament building, which had served in the last two decades as a battleground, a hideout, or a prison. The building, a heap of rubble a year ago, has been reconstructed, in a $3.5 million project, to serve as the national assembly�s interim home
The new parliament consists of two chambers: People�s Council (Wolesi Jirga), whose 249 members are popularly elected, and Council of Elders (Meshrano Jirga), whose 102 members are chosen by the country�s 34 provincial councils or appointed by the president to represent minorities.
Despite the more than 70 officially registered political parties in the country, the vast majority of the new lawmakers consider themselves independents. But this does not rule out their connections or affiliation with one political group or another.
It is hard to draw a political map for the Wolesi Jirga, given the personality-based nature of Afghan politics, not to mention the history of radical shifts of alliances among Afghan politicians in the past. One, however, can cautiously divide the council�s members into four broad and often overlapping camps. According to analyst Amin Tarzi, these camps are: first, former mujaheddin, including some 40 members of Hizb-e-Islami who distanced themselves from their party leader and current anti-government fugitive Gulbuddin Hekmatyar; second, independents, technocrats, and those tribal leaders who are not affiliated with certain parties; third, former communists and leftists; and fourth, former members of the Taliban movement.
Although the first camp seems to enjoy a majority, several factors may prevent it from successfully pushing for its conservative agendas, including retroactive action on many of Karzai�s decrees and appointments and the reinserting of religion into politics of the country. These factors include division and competition among the mujaheddin on ethnic, sectarian, or tribal lines, their lacking of any strong leadership, their fears of a possible reopen of their black files of atrocities in the 1990s, and the affiliation of some of them with President Karzai. They also include the unity of the second camp behind Karzai, who constitutionally enjoys strong power.
One of the positive aspects of the new parliament is that 68 of the Wolesi Council�s members are women, a turnaround from the days of the Taliban�s ban on females taking part in politics or even taking jobs. With this, Afghanistan now ranks 20th in terms of parliamentary representation of women in the world.
Against this encouraging aspect, however, nearly 60 percent of new MPs are former warlords with very bad human rights records, 20 legislators still have active private militias, and at least 20 more have been involved in drug trade. As a result, many ordinary Afghans have voiced their disappointment, saying �how can we trust a body that includes warlords and notorious human rights abusers as lawmakers?�
One of the first issues the new parliament might have to confront, therefore, is whether such human rights abusers will be brought to justice. While female MPs and technocrats strongly support the idea, others are expected to unite and use all tools at their disposal to opposite it on the pretext that seeking justice now would be counterproductive and would fall in the Taliban�s interest.
Despite all doubts and reservations, the fact that a parliament is sitting at all is a victory for Afghans. It has given them hope that their country can move forward and cannot be held back by the toppled Taliban-led insurgency.
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