Afghan assembly removes controversial female MP

KABUL, May 21 (Reuters) One of Afghanistan's most controversial female lawmakers was removed from her post today by the lower house of parliament for calling the house ''worse than a stable.'' A videotape of the private television interview in which Malalai Joya recently made the remarks was shown in the house before most delegates voted for her removal.

''A stable is better, for there you have a donkey that carries a load and a cow that provides milk. The parliament is worse than a stable,'' she said in the interview.

Joya, seen as controversial and outspoken for criticising some of the mujahideen (holy warrior) leaders and commanders, could not be reached for comment.

The 28-year old women's rights activist is reasonably well-known at home, but her real fame came in Western capitals when she she spoke out against some of the mujahideen figures in 2003.

She won a seat in landmark parliamentary elections in 2005. There are 68 women MPs in parliament among the 248 lawmakers. Twenty-five per cent of the seats in the Afghan parliament are reserved for women.

The Mujahideen forced out occupying Soviet forces in 1989. But some of the factions that won the jihad, or holy war, then battled over the spoils.

Nearly two million Afghans were killed during the 10-year Soviet occupation and the Western-backed mujahideen forces who fought the Red Army and its puppet government.

Tens of thousands of people were killed in years of bitter fighting among the factions in Kabul before the Taliban seized the city in 1996.

Some of the factions helped US forces drive the Taliban from power in late 2001, and many commanders and officials got jobs in the new government. A number won seats in parliament.

Several members of parliament have been accused by human rights groups of abuses during the civil war.

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