LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Afghanistan: United States
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The first American interfaith delegation to Afghanistan will be in Kabul from June 16 through June 29 on a mission to build bridges between the Muslim world and faith communities in the United States. The delegation—which includes Christian leaders from many denominations, Muslims, and Jews—hopes to promote new understanding and tolerance between Afghans and Americans. The group plans to contribute to the rebuilding of Afghanistan by identifying ways that faith communities in the US can support humanitarian projects in Kabul such as the reconstruction of schools, clinics, or mosques that were destroyed during the US-led military campaign.
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In Afghanistan the biggest USAID contractor for education is Creative Associates International, a Washington, D.C.–based consulting company that has close connections to both the Pentagon and the State Department. In 2003 it received a $60 million contract from USAID to develop primary education in Afghanistan. The Washington Post, in recent reports, has described the failure of this project. Primary schools built at a cost of $174,000 each could have been built by Afghan contractors for $20,000 or less.
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Afghanistan, often called the crossroads of Central Asia, has had a turbulent history. In 328 BC, Alexander the Great entered the territory of present-day Afghanistan, then part of the Persian Empire, and established a Hellenistic state in Bactria (present-day Balkh). Invasions by the Scythians, White Huns, and Turks followed in succeeding centuries. In AD 642, Arabs invaded the entire region and introduced Islam.
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Since September 2001 the political situation in Afghanistan has changed dramatically. In December 2001 the United Nations chaired talks in Bonn, which culminated in an agreement providing a roadmap for a democratically elected government to lead Afghanistan. An Emergency Loya Jirga in June 2002 established a broad-based Transitional Administration to govern until democratic elections could be held. The Constitutional Loya Jirga agreed a new Constitution in January 2004 and Presidential elections took place on 9 October. Hamid Karzai was officially announced as the winner on 3 November with 55.4% of the vote. The first Parliamentary and Provincial elections in 36 years took place on 18 September 2005.
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In 1919, after the Third Afghan War, Afghanistan regained its independence under Amanullah. In 1933 Muhammad Zahir became shah. In 1964 Zahir introduced a constitutional monarchy. The status of Pathans in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan caused conflict between the two states. In 1973 an army coup overthrew Zahir and established a republic. In 1978 a Marxist coup, backed by the Soviet Union, deposed the military regime.
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Afghanistan is governed under the constitution of 2004. The president, who is both head of state and of government, is popularly elected for a five-year term and may serve a second term. The president appoints a cabinet, the members of which must be approved by the legislature. The bicameral legislature is called the National Assembly. The lower house, the House of the People (Wolesi Jirga), consists of no more than 249 members, who are directly elected to five-year terms. The upper house, the House of Elders (Meshrano Jirga), consists of 102 members, a third elected by provincial councils to four-year terms, a third elected by district councils to three-year terms, and the rest (half of whom must be women) appointed by the president to five-year terms.
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