Inter-Parliamentary Union - British Group - Parliamentary Delegation from Afghanistan, 25 to 29 January 2010


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Delegation Reports

Parliamentary Delegation from Afghanistan

25 to 29 January 2010

Delegation
HE Younus Qanooni - Leader
Speaker of the wolesi Jirga National Assembly of Afghanistan. MP for Kabul.

Hon Fazel Karim Aimaq
MP for Kunduz Province.

Hon Shakiba Matin Hashemi
MP for Kandahar Province.

Hon Sharifa Zarmati
MP for Paktia Province

Hon Sadat Zahir
MP for Panjshir Province

Mr Noor Rahman Izedyar
Chief of Protocol and Acting International Relations Director of the Wolesi Jirga

The delegation arrived at Heathrow Airport on Saturday, 23 January, and was met on arrival by HE Hamayoun Tandar, Ambassador for Afghanistan, and Kenneth Courtenay, General Secretary of the British Group of the IPU.

The visit coincided with the International Conference on Afghanistan held in Lancaster House which was attended by Afghan ministers led by President Karzai and world leaders including Prime Minister Gordon Brown, US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

The programme started on Monday morning with a presentation on parliamentary procedures by Mark Hutton, Clerk of the Overseas Office. The delegation asked many questions including: who sets the agenda for each parliamentary session in Britain, how much time is dedicated to debating the Government’s Budget and whether Parliament had the power to remove a Minister deemed inefficient.
At the end of the morning, the delegation enjoyed a brief tour of St Mary’s Undercroft before heading to 1 Carlton Gardens for the Government Lunch hosted by the Minister Ivan Lewis MP.

After lunch, the delegation moved on to the Ministry of Defence for a meeting with the Rt Hon Baroness Taylor, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State. The Minister opened the discussion by stressing that the UK was part of the UN effort and that international co-operation was important. She hoped that the London Conference would prove to be a success.

The Afghan Speaker said the UK and his country had the common goal of fighting terrorism. He pointed out that two million Afghan girls could now go to school, and there was more freedom of speech.UK support was vital, and pulling out international forces too early would have serious consequences. The Afghan government had not consulted parliament before the London Conference.

The Speaker said he understood that the UK needed progress to be made in developing Afghanistan’s security abilities, but his country could not be self-reliant without support now. He said that his President had to fight corruption and the narcotics trade.

The Speaker suggested that as the UK is a friend of both Afghanistan and Pakistan, it could use its influence to help solve differences by intervening with Pakistan. In his opinion, buying off insurgents does not work.

Baroness Taylor said that co-operation with Pakistan was getting better.
Following this meeting, the delegation stayed at the MOD and met the Afghan Cultural Capability Team who explained that their aim was to educate UK forces in the cultural background of the country. Members of the delegation commented that this was an indication of a long term commitment and recognition of past errors in cultural awareness, such as entering houses without permission, searching at night, and the use of dogs.

The last meeting of the day was back in the House of Commons where the delegation met Mike Gapes MP, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, who was also joined by his colleague, Ken Purchase MP.
The Afghan Speaker said his country needed continued support and was at a crossroads. It must move forward. The objectives of the NATO operations had not been achieved. Al Qaida was getting stronger. It was important to strengthen India/Pakistan relations and the UK could exert influence. Continued development and support were needed as well as the elimination of sanctuaries across the Pakistan border.

Following this meeting, the delegation enjoyed an informal reception in the IPU Room hosted by Dr Roger Berry MP, Chair of the British Group of the IPU, and had the opportunity to talk with a large number of Members from both Houses.

Tuesday morning began with a tour of the Palace led by Gordon Prentice MP. The delegation particularly enjoyed the brief visit to the House of Commons Library.

Following the tour, the delegation called on the Lord Speaker. The two Speakers discussed the positive steps that had been made in Afghanistan and the importance of the London Conference.
Lunch that day was hosted by Baroness D’Souza, Vice-Chair of the All Party Group, in the Peers’ Dining Room.

After lunch, the delegation met the Rt Hon Malcolm Bruce MP, Chair of the International Development Select Committee. Among the issues raised during the meeting were: the Speaker’s feelings that the Electoral Commission needed to be replaced, that aid to his country should be audited from donor to target, that the people were united against the Taliban, that the Afghan parliament had not been consulted on the London Conference, and that regional conciliation between India, Afghanistan and Pakistan was essential.

This meeting was followed by a meeting with the Defence Select Committee chaired by Rt Hon James Arbuthnot MP.

The last meeting of the day was with Gerald Howarth MP, Shadow Minister for Defence. The delegation was interested to learn of his experiences during his three visits to Afghanistan, including a very recent trip to Camp Bastion.

Wednesday morning began with a round table meeting chaired by Roberta Blackman-Woods MP. The discussions focused on the London Conference, the Afghan’s view of International operations in Afghanistan, President Karzai’s new cabinet and the forthcoming elections.
Key points raised were firstly that the delegation was grateful for the initiative of the UK Government to hold this conference which was being held at a very sensitive and opportune time in the history of Afghanistan.

Speaker Quanooni also stated that contrary to reports in the media, the war on terrorism would succeed, that it was extremely important for Afghan Democracy, the Afghan people and the International community.

A final comment by one of the female members of the delegation was that the situation for women in Afghanistan was improving; women are well represented in Parliament, had more education opportunities (including being able to be educated outside Afghanistan) and were well represented in civil society organisations.

Later, the delegation observed Prime Minister’s Question Time. As the Prime Minister was in Northern Ireland, Deputy Labour Leader Harriet Harman MP was in the hot seat.
Lunch that day was a working lunch in Shepherd’s restaurant, hosted by the Rt Hon Malcolm Bruce MP. The lively discussion over lunch revealed the clear message from members of the delegation that they were grateful for the International Community’s presence but thought that it was too soon to begin negotiations with the Taliban.

After lunch, the delegation returned to Parliament for a call on the Speaker, Rt Hon John Bercow MP.
Thursday morning began at leisure with a trip on the London Eye followed by a tour of Westminster Abbey. The delegation then returned to Parliament for a meeting with the Rt Hon Bruce George MP with whom they discussed electoral reform. Mr George read from an Economist ‘league table of democracies’ which indicated that Afghanistan was quite low down, but certainly not bottom of the list! He shared his years of experience working on elections and thought that it was best to avoid elections immediately following a war – he stated that it is unrealistic to assume you will easily settle on a democratic process – as this had to be constantly studied and improved upon. He also shared with the delegation some cases of UK electoral fraud which had emerged at a local level ten years ago and were not dealt with effectively as there had been no experience of electoral fraud for a century.

After lunch at the hotel, the first meeting of the afternoon was with Mike Foster, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for International Development.

The Minister began by asking the delegation how they saw the long term governance and development of Afghanistan and how they envisaged the lifting of poverty. The delegation responded by explaining that the first priority was establishing a Government that had the full trust of the people. It was vital to concentrate on training their own forces and police and ensuring that they are well equipped and paid sufficiently.
The Minister also asked about the role of women in society and the political system. The response was that there is now a commission for women and women’s rights in civil society. Half of the six million who go to school are girls. Some 26% of the lower chamber in Parliament was composed of women.
Another delegate, however, had an opposing view, and stated that although there was a Minister for Women, created eight years ago at the Bonn Conference, this was somewhat symbolic. She also indicated that women played more of a role in the cities and not in the provinces where mortality levels in women were still high.

The Minister asked what message he could give his constituents about the UK’s involvement in Afghanistan and the delegation responded by stating that the UK’s presence was working to eradicate terrorism which was not only helping the people of Afghanistan but also the UK.
The final discussion was on the need for transparency over aid to Afghanistan following a comment by a delegate that although the aid statistics were good, often the people of Afghanistan could not see where this was going.

The next meeting was with the British Council. Lucy Watkins, their head of the region, explained that the British Council had been working in Afghanistan since 1964. It closed in 1979 and then reopened in 2004.
The programmes they were running in the country were: Connecting Classrooms, Skills for Employability, English for Teaching and Afghan National Security Forces, and a language capability project.
The last meeting of the day was with the Afghan department at the BBC World Service where the delegation had an opportunity to meet the team and record some interviews.

On Friday morning, the delegation went to Harrow in North London where they were met at Whitefriars Primary School by Tony McNulty MP, the Head of the School and a number of Afghan school children. The delegation was very moved to see some 40 Afghan children being educated and cared for at this school.

The delegation then had the opportunity to visit Harrow Central Mosque before heading to the Afghan Masa restaurant for lunch. At lunch, they were joined by many senior members of the London Afghan diaspora.

Later that afternoon, the delegation departed Heathrow for Dubai and then home to Kabul.