As war in Iraq comes closer to reality, a Labour backbencher has urged the government not to turn its back on Afghanistan.

Joan Ruddock, the MP for Lewisham Deptford, made her call after returning from a fact-finding visit to Kabul which coincided with the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks in America.

Ruddock told ePolitix.com that the prospect of an invasion in Iraq has heightened fears among the Afghan people who are still struggling to rebuild their country.

"People fear very, very much of the international community engaging in another exercise. They believe it will remove resources in Afghanistan and that yet again the West will walk away," she told this website.

She was also told that many Afghan see similarities between the two countries.

"Iraq is an Islamic country and, though nobody approves of Saddam Hussein, they can see the civilian Iraqis as being in the same situation because they have been caught in conflict for decades," Ruddock said.

The MP spoke after spending a seven-day visit meeting government ministers, human rights and aid organisations.

She gave a bleak assessment of the country which has seen decades of fighting which continues despite the overthrow of the Taliban regime.

"All we can conclude is that if the new government makes it to the next stage it will be an absolute miracle."

"There's been 23 years of civil war; constant damage to people and places and the constant fragmentation of authority. It's going to take a very long time to rebuild; now isn't the time to be refocusing elsewhere."

Ruddock, who made the visit as coordinator of UK Women's Link with Afghan Women, arrived as tensions rose amid fears of reprisals by extremist supporters of the Taliban and al Qaeda.

On her first visit with the chief of police a suspected car bomb was left 50 yards from the office she was meeting in.

"There was a constant sense of unease and it was very tense. There was a series of attempts to undermine public confidence. It's a constant test for the police who are mostly illiterate and haven't been trained," Ruddock said.

Officials with the groups she met, and local people in Kabul, called for the international ISAF peacekeeping role to be extended to the whole country.

"Everyone thought that extension was absolutely vital if the warlordism is to be dealt with," she said.

There were signs that life is returning to normal; in particular the return of women and young girls to schools which had previously been underground organisations.

"Lots of children are back in school despite the lack of facilities and food. Their desire to learn, and the commitment of their teachers is amazing," Ruddock said.

But with alongside this is a humanitarian crisis as two million refugees return from camps outside the country.

Ruddock also is concerned at the opening of a department of Vice and Virtue within the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

"Under the Taliban it was an office that exercised the most repressive control over women's lives. It's the last bastion of hardline control," she said.

"There is still a lot of confusion as to who actually runs the country. Some believe it's a struggle between the secular and religious elements, there's a constant belief that it's the ruling class from the Panshia valley or that it's the groups with the guns."