First Afghan parliament in decades set to meet

Four years after the overthrow of the Taleban regime, a new Afghan parliament will meet for the first time on December 19, in the culmination of an international plan to bring democracy to the country following three decades of conflict. Former Communists, leaders of the guerrilla groups which overthrew them and ex-Taleban will sit side by side in a parliament which emerged from the United Nations-backed September election. Trying to limit their influence will be a clutch of idealistic new politicians, including technocrats and women’s rights activists. The parliament is seen both as a means of reconciliation and as a counterbalance to the administration of President Hamed Karzai, installed after United States-led forces ousted the Taleban in 2001 and elected a president last year.