LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Afghanistan: Women
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Afghanistan's legislative body is a parliament consisting of two houses: the Wolesi Jirga, the House of the People, and the Meshrano Jirga, House of Elders. The former is constituted by 250 members elected to five-year terms directly by the people, in proportion to the population of each province; a requirement of two women from each province has been instituted. In the Meshrano Jirga, one third of the members are elected by provincial councils for four years, on third are elected by district councils of each province for three years, and one third are appointed by the president for five years?of which a half of the elected positions must be women.
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![[Country Map]](http://retrieverimages.lycos.com/images/a/f/g/afghanistan/i/070.jpg)
On October 9, 2004, Afghanistan held its first national democratic presidential election. More than 8 million Afghans voted, 41% of whom were women. Hamid Karzai was announced as the official winner on November 3 and inaugurated on December 7 for a five-year term as Afghanistan's first democratically elected president. On December 23, 2004, President Karzai announced new cabinet appointments, naming three women as ministers.
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Has the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan been beneficial? -- U.S. invasion has benefited Afghanistan / Michael Turner -- U.S. invasion has harmed Afghanistan / Faruq Achikzad -- Media underreport progress in Afghanistan / Mary Matalin -- Media underreport failure in Afghanistan / Mike Whitney -- Afghanistan's elections were a benefit of the U.S. invasion / Austin Bay -- Afghanistan's elections were a sham / Peter Symonds -- Has life improved for Afghan women since the U.S. invasion? -- Afghanistan is working toward gender equality / Masooda Jalal -- Afghanistan is not working toward gender equality / Nazir Gul -- Educational opportunities are improving for Afghan women / Laura Bush -- Educational opportunities are not improving for Afghan women / Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan -- Violence against Afghan women has increased / Aisha Ahmad --
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After a nationwide Loya Jirga in 2002, Karzai was chosen by the representatives to assume the title as Interim President of Afghanistan. The country convened a Constitutional Loya Jirga (Council of Elders) in 2003 and a new constitution was ratified in January 2004. Following an election in October 2004, Hamid Karzai won and became the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Legislative elections were held in September 2005. The National Assembly – the first freely elected legislature in Afghanistan since 1973 – sat in December 2005, and was noteworthy for the inclusion of women as voters, candidates, and elected members.
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The United States is working build opportunities, specially for women, in Afghanistan, a senior Bush administration official has said. Karen Hughes, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs told Pajhwok Afghan News the Bush administration was working to rebuild economic, health and educational opportunities for girls and women in Afghanistan. Hughes, who has personally been to Afghanistan a number of times, said the country had done remarkable progress over the previous few years, but a lot was yet to be achieved.
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The reason the United States gave for invading Afghanistan in October 2001 was "to destroy the infrastructure of al-Qaeda, the perpetrators of 9/11". The women of Rawa say this is false. In a rare statement on 4 December that went unreported in Britain, they said: "By experience, [we have found] that the US does not want to defeat the Taliban and al-Qaeda, because then they will have no excuse to stay in Afghanistan and work towards the realisation of their econo mic, political and strategic interests in the region."
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