Democracy in Afghanistan

"It will be the heart of democracy in Afghanistan," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh remarked today as the foundation stone of the Afghan Parliament was laid by former King Zahir Shah.
To resemble the Indian Parliament, the building will be built by India at a cost of 25 million dollars over a four-year period. It will have Upper and Lower Houses on the lines of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha.
Singh, who witnessed the foundation laying ceremony along with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and other top leaders, stressed that "democratic institutions in Afghanistan need to be nurtured and nursed." He described the occasion, which comes two weeks before the Afghan Parliamentary elections, as marking a new phase in the history of the "blessed country".