Afghan MPs face daunting challengers in rebuilding the country

Heavy security is in place amid concern that remnants of the ousted Taleban regime could disrupt the gathering.

Elections took place in September and form part of the return to democracy since the fall of the Taleban in 2001.

The MPs have a lot to prove to a sceptical public, the BBC's Andrew North in Kabul reports.

Not least because some of them were involved in the past bloodshed and were allowed to stand in the election, our correspondent says.

The opening session takes place as insurgents have stepped up their attacks over the past year.

In the latest attack, two people were injured in a suicide attack near the parliament building.

But the hope is that this new parliament and last year's election of Hamid Karzai as president will give Afghanistan the institutions it needs to put that terrible past behind it, our correspondent says.

Determination

The session is expected to open with the raising of the flag, after which the lawmakers will be sworn in by President Hamid Karzai.

About 30% of the newly-elected lawmakers are women

Mr Karzai - who has declared Monday a national holiday - is then expected to deliver the main speech.

Almost a third of the members of the lower house of the parliament are women.

Last week, the MPs held a week-long orientation programme in Kabul to prepare for the assembly's opening.

Lawmakers expressed their determination to overcome the divisions that have plagued the country for decades.

Afghanistan has had no elected national assembly since the 1970s when coups and a Soviet invasion left the country deeply divided.