Afghanistan held its first parliamentary election in nearly 30 years on 18 September. Around 12 million Afghans registered for the election and around 7 million of them turned out to vote for their future representatives from more than 5,800 candidates, which included 582 women.

The guests in the studio were from three of the four groups that participated in the Bonn conference in December 2001. Houmayoun Jaree representing the Cyprus Group, Dr. Abdul Khaleq Fazel from the Rome Group, and Sayed Hamed Gailani of the Peshawar Group (a representative from the United Front Group did not attend.) Khalilzad, a so-called architect of the Bonn agreement, participated by phone.

The main complaint about the situation in Afghanistan on the part of the participants was the lack of security in the country and the significant presence of warlords within the central and local governments. Asked about the problem of warlordism, Khalilzad said it is necessary to have relations with all groups in Afghanistan so that the warlords can participate in politics and switch from armed conflicts to peaceful negotiations, whether at a local or a central level.

Many questions were posed to Khalilzad during the live show, with most of them focussing on postelection developments, the flow of foreign aid, security issues, the foreign military presence, as well as regional stability and Afghanistan's relations with neighboring countries.

When asked about the outcome of the Bonn agreement, Khalilzad said that he is very much satisfied with the political and economic reforms that are under way and said he appreciates the fact that so many different political groups in Afghanistan -- with the help of foreign countries and the United Nations -- are working together to make Afghanistan a better place.

Khalilzad also admitted that there are problems within the country and that security is still not perfect but, generally, the results are very positive and the credit for these achievements should be given to the Afghan people.

RFA's Jan Alekozai asked Khalilzad about future military support for Afghanistan and the presence of the U.S.-led coalition troops in the country. Khalilzad said that the work in Afghanistan is not finished yet and that in order to be successful, coalition troops need to stay in Afghanistan and uproot all the terrorist links and insurgents in the country. In regard to the United States support for Afghanistan, Khalilzad said: "Afghanistan's success is also United States' success."

In the end, all of the participants in the discussion agreed that most of the trends in Afghanistan are going in a positive direction, but stressed that in order to rid the country of terror and violence, more cooperation and hard work is needed within Afghanistan and with regional states.

Khalizad added that the function and the role of the U.S.-led coalition troops in Afghanistan will depend solely on stability within the region. Khalilzad also said that it would be dangerous for the foreign troops to leave Afghanistan before all the terrorists and insurgents are defeated.