A recently reconstructed parliament building, which last housed the legislature in 1973, is ready for the opening, said an official from the Parliament's secretariat.

Afghans elected a 249-seat lower house in the landmark Sept. 18 vote, the final formal step on an internationally backed path to democracy following a quarter-century of war and the ouster of the hard-line Taliban regime in 2001. An upper house has also been formed.

The Japan Times Weekly: Dec. 10, 2005
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