My Afghan Parliamentary Hook-up

I was not too surprised to see that Mohammed Almas won a seat in the lower house of the Afghan Parliament (the Wolesi Jirga). He is a very wealthy and influential man, and he had made sure there was enough good will toward him in his district.
The first mention I can find of Mr. Almas was in an article from November 2001 in the LA Times, briefly mentioning his role as a General in the Northern Alliance. He was happy enough to dump the General role and get back to what he did best - make money. He has extensive interests in construction and a surprisingly good restaurant in Kabul. Of course, some of his enemies believe his fortune is based on, er, certain commodities and other activities...
My dealings with Mr. Almas were fairly genial. He was keenly interested in what the US was doing in his district, and how our relations with the local leaders and the central government were coming along. I will follow his career with interest.