On the opening of the first Afghan parliament in decades, MPs and ordinary Afghans hope that despite renewed Taliban threats it will help end the nation's long cycle of violence.

Today's inauguration of the 249-seat Wolesi Jirga, or lower house of parliament, and the 102-member upper house, or Meshrano Jirga, will be attended by US Vice-President Dick Cheney and other foreign dignitaries and marked by tight security.

On Friday, a bomber died and two passers-by were hurt in a Taliban suicide attack on NATO-led peacekeepers near the parliament building. Yesterday, an insurgent commander warned Afghans to stay away, saying it could be attacked "at any time."

The Taliban has declared the parliament "bogus" and a symbol of US occupation. "Killing agents of foreign infidels is permissible," Taliban commander Mullah Sabir Momin said.

Despite threats from the guerrillas, who have stepped up attacks in recent weeks, MPs and ordinary Afghans hope the parliament will bolster stability after decades of bloodshed.

"The Taliban cannot do anything to the parliament, they are not a threat. The people need a parliament," said Mullah Salman Rocketi, a Taliban commander who defected and is now an MP for the insurgent-troubled province of Zabul.

Protagonists from three decades of conflict, including leaders of guerrilla groups and ex-Taliban officials, will sit side by side with a clutch of new idealistic technocrats and women's activists.

There are hopes the diversity of the first elected legislature since the 1970s will bring further reconciliation in a country still fragile despite billions of dollars of Western aid aimed at building a moderate Muslim state to counter Islamist radicalism.

"The people of Afghanistan are looking forward to having a parliament back," said Faizullah Zaki, an MP who was formerly a spokesman for ethnic Uzbek factional chief Abdul Rashid Dostum.

And the fact that one-third of all seats are held by independents means President Hamid Karzai is likely to enjoy majority support.

Diversity 'positive'

"It is not accidental the political crisis in Afghanistan started when parliament failed," Zaki said at the end of a week-long series of orientation seminars for new MPs.

"The diversity of the parliament is absolutely positive. One should not expect no differences of ideas. But we should learn to tolerate each other and to debate and come to conclusions."

Padshah Khan Zadran, an MP whose tribal forces have clashed with those of President Hamid Karzai, said parliament's aim was to rebuild Afghanistan.

"People will unite because they have witnessed enough suffering. Even those from the factions realize this."

"We hope it will provide job opportunities so we can live freely," said university student Ahmad Nawab, while school teacher Mohammad Rasoul added: "This is something Afghans voted for. I hope it changes people's lives for the better."

(China Daily December 19, 2005)