By Carlotta Gall
The New York Times, 19 December 2005
KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 18 - Government workers hung flags along the battle-scarred road to the new Parliament building here on Sunday, as legislators convened in a hotel across town to learn the ropes - to learn what their powers and duties will be in Afghanistan's first elected legislature in 30 years, which will convene Monday.
During a United-Nations-sponsored "orientation week," the 350 members of Afghanistan's two houses of Parliament have listened to constitutional experts, government officials and members of parliaments abroad; toured the Parliament complex, in southwestern Kabul; answered questionnaires; and pondered ideas for a code of conduct and rules of procedure.
"The foreigners have rules; Afghans don't have any rules," said one newly elected legislator, a bearded, turbaned former Taliban military commander who acquired part of his name, Mullah Abdul Salam Rocketi, for his marksmanship with a rocket during the war in the 1980's against the Soviet occupation.
Mir Wali, another powerful former commander from Helmand Province, gave up his weapons and demobilized his militia, and was among the commanders rewarded by Japan for their cooperation with a trip to that country. "We want to sit and listen and gain something," he said. He withdrew a notebook from under a wool shawl and showed reams of neat notes.
Muhammad Umar Sherzad, a representative to the upper house, the House of Elders, from Kandahar province, said: "The most useful was to learn what is our job, what are we to do. We have to make laws, and focus on enforcing the law and watch how the law is performing."
These new legislators readily admit they do not know even the basics of democracy, in particular how a Western-devised Parliament works. But they are natural politicians when it comes to gathering between sessions in the corridors, rooms and restaurants of the Intercontinental Hotel, parrying questions from journalists, flipping open their cellphones, and discussing whom to support for president of the Parliament and the president's two deputies.
There is a buzz in the air, like the first day of the college term, as the new members, all with new black briefcases, meet and size one another up. The well-known legislators - party leaders, a former president and several former government ministers, heroes of the struggle against the Communists and former members of the Taliban and Communist governments - greet one another and disappear into meeting rooms.
Some members are women, young and old, some with husbands or children in tow. Their glittering shawls and head scarves, long skirts and fur-trimmed jackets and coats competed for grandeur with the men's silk turbans and striped robes.
Not all are happy with the politicking. Fariba Ahmadi Kakar, a 30-year-old delegate from Kandahar, said, "What we have here is a playground for buzkashi," referring to the national sport, a rough game where horsemen wrestle each other for possession of a headless calf. "Everyone is fighting each other, everyone is campaigning against someone else."
One delegate said that it looked as if candidates were already moving into regional blocs and that such a trend might not be good for national unity. Many are unhappy that the same old principals from the country's decades of wars are emerging as front-runners for the posts of speaker, or president, of the Parliament, and the two deputies.
Two of the top candidates are Burhanuddin Rabbani, who is notorious for refusing to give up power under a rotating presidency in 1992, precipitating heavy fighting in the capital, and Abdul Rab Rasul Sayyaf, infamous for calling on his fighters to raze Kabul in the 1990's.
Some argue that now that they have been allowed to run for Parliament, the wartime figures cannot be excluded from positions of responsibility. "I do not see anyone who could control them," said Hamed Gailani, a presidential appointee to the upper house.
He added that it is "better to have your enemy inside the tent."
Yet others are angry at the power these figures still exert. "This nation is waiting for tangible changes," said another candidate, Daoud Sultanzoi, a trained airline pilot who returned from the United States to run for Parliament to represent his home province of Ghazni.
The presidential administration is putting a calm face on working with the new legislature after four years of rule by presidential decree.
"On broad issues of national interest you will see the unity of the Parliament," the foreign minister, Abdullah, said in an interview. He predicted delays of government business as the Parliament flexed its muscles and members explored the boundaries of their power.
"There will be some extremists," Mr. Abdullah said, and added, "The majority will be moderate, among them the women, and there will be a few very liberal elements."
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Citation: Carlotta Gall. "Afghan Legislators Get Crash Course in Ways of Democracy," The New York Times, 19 December 2005.
Original URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/19/international/asia/19afghan.html
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