Afghanis open first parliament in over 35 years

Just chalk it up as another success directly resulting from our GWOT... the spread or freedom and democracy, especially after such a hugely successful Iraqi election. Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Afghanistan opened its first parliament since 1969 at a ceremony in the capital, Kabul, following elections for the assembly held in September. President Hamid Karzai presided over today's swearing-in of members of the 249-seat lower house of parliament known as the Wolesi Jirga. Elected members gathered last week in Kabul to attend an orientation program, the American Forces Press Service said in a report on the U.S. Defense Department's Web site. Afghanistan's last parliament was elected before the country descended into two decades of civil strife in the 1970s. Karzai, who has run the country of 29.9 million people since the Taliban regime was overthrown by the U.S. in 2001, won the country's first direct presidential election in October 2004. ``Let me tell the world that Afghanistan is rising from the ashes of invasion and will live forever,'' Karzai said at the inaugural session, according to Agence France-Presse. And they're going to cary out their own "crimes against humanity" trials for the accused from back during their civil war years. I'm waiting to see what Amnesty International says about that...