Afghans are to vote for parliament from among 5,000 candidates. (Reuters)

KABUL, September 12, 2005  (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Millions of Afghans are expected to cast their votes Sunday, September 18, in parliamentary elections, with analysts skeptical of any significant or swift change to emerge in the war-ravaged.

Professor Barnet Robin, an expert in Afghani Affairs at the University of New York, believes that people should not pin high expectations on the coming parliamentary and municipal elections since the Afghani political institutions are still way undeveloped and weak, according to Reuters Monday, September 12.

He added that without an Afghani “legal” economy and efficient political institutions, parliament will not be more than a rubber-stamp, unable to undertake real change or reform.

Political analysts believe that the newly-borne democracy is yet to be supported by the international community before it becomes a full-fledged one.

The Afghani election comes four years after ousting the Taliban regime by the US-led offensive that followed the 9/11 attacks on the United States and were blamed on Al-Qaeda leader Osama Ben Laden, who was residing in Afghanistan then.

Ever since, political analysts said, the US and its allies have spent billions of dollars chasing members of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Other billions were spent on the “reconstruction” of Afghanistan and the “spread of democracy," according to Reuters.

However, the analysts added all these billions could not achieve the main goal of the US in Afghanistan, which is arresting Ben Laden and main figures of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, whose rebellion increased right before the elections.

Observers say that many Afghans are bitterly dissatisfied with unfulfilled American promises of better economic, political and social conditions.

Exclusions

Meanwhile, Afghani electoral watchdog has excluded 28 more candidates from Sunday's key legislative elections, the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) said Monday, bringing to 45 the total number of disqualified candidates, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Of the total number, 21 were disqualified for links to illegal armed groups and the rest for accepting or failing to resign from government positions, commission chairman Grant Kippen told a news conference, according to Reuters.

But surprisingly enough, high-profile figures accused of major rights abuses were not amongst the excluded, reported Reuters.

The London-based news agency added the disqualified group included Mohammad Yousof, a former pro-Taliban commander in the northern province of Baghlan.

The ECC is an independent body of three international members nominated by the United Nations and two Afghans, one named by the Supreme Court and one by the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, reported Reuters

Nearly 5,800 candidates, 10 percent of whom are women, are standing in Sunday's election, the first parliamentary poll in Afghanistan for more than 30 years.