Upper Hand Afghan Extremists
By Mohammad Ebrahim Taherian, former ambassador to Pakistan
It is difficult to have a clear picture of Afghanistan’s current situation, without looking back at the course of developments within the past seven years, a period during which a new process of state-building and nation-building initiated with the consensual decision of all Afghan factions and ethnicities. The international community backed this democratic process which functioned with respect the Islamic beliefs of Afghans.
The honeymoon was ephemeral however and extremism regained momentum after a few months, mainly due to the increasing presence of foreign troops and the erroneous conceptions of Western powers. Add to this the interventions of Pakistan, which always deems Afghanistan its strategic depth and domineeringly tries to take advantage of this war-ridden country to advance its own interests, particularly in Central Asia. Extremists have now reached a level of influence that their intimidation easily dissuaded many Afghans to vote in 2009 presidential elections in fear of revenge.
Sadly, Afghanistan’s presidential election turned out to be an imperfect democratic process, bearing a maimed child which is not even considered legitimate based on the constitution. Plights of the recent months held back Hamed Karzai from on-time introduction of cabinet nominees; two-third of which were later rejected by the parliament.
On the bright side, nevertheless, Karzai’s new cabinet features three female ministers, nominees with higher educational degrees and lesser known figures, signs that Karzai has now admitted some realities of the politics in Afghanistan. A question that remains is why his first list of candidates was mutilated by the parliament. Was it the natural reaction of MPs to the candidates’ record? All in all, it can be said that Karzai’s improved list is a unique development and we are eager to see parliament’s reaction to his list next week.
Whatever the judgment of the parliament, even after forming his cabinet Karzai will face two major problems: first, he has not yet suggested any fundamental plans to change his image and second, his government is slammed with allegations of corruption. Everyone knows that Karzai’s administration suffers inefficiency and corruption. A part of this problem may be due to the presence of foreign troops and intervention of external powers, as the Afghan president himself claims, but that doesn’t absolve state-run organizations from the accusations. So far, Karzai has taken no serious steps towards tackling the problem.
Back to the other key problem, Western experts believe that half of Afghanistan’s soil is under the influence of extremist groups. Things appear worse if we know that the international community, especially NATO and the United States have adopted a unilateral approach towards Afghanistan’s problems. Barack Obama’s so-called strategy still relies on ‘hard power’ and use of military weapons. Americans have forgotten that Afghanistan’s cardinal problems, security and development, are inseparable. Viewing each as an isolated case will never bring any changes to the situation. The international community has totally forgotten about economic development and improvement of life conditions and its commitments are not even as strong as seven years ago.
In total, with the problems ahead of Karzai, the shortsightedness of the international community and the presence of external powers in Afghanistan, the future seems not promising but upsetting. Together, these problems give the upper hand to extremists who take advantage of the administration’s inefficiency and the international community, and the rift between political elites and the government, to expand their zone of influence.
The honeymoon was ephemeral however and extremism regained momentum after a few months, mainly due to the increasing presence of foreign troops and the erroneous conceptions of Western powers. Add to this the interventions of Pakistan, which always deems Afghanistan its strategic depth and domineeringly tries to take advantage of this war-ridden country to advance its own interests, particularly in Central Asia. Extremists have now reached a level of influence that their intimidation easily dissuaded many Afghans to vote in 2009 presidential elections in fear of revenge.
Sadly, Afghanistan’s presidential election turned out to be an imperfect democratic process, bearing a maimed child which is not even considered legitimate based on the constitution. Plights of the recent months held back Hamed Karzai from on-time introduction of cabinet nominees; two-third of which were later rejected by the parliament.
On the bright side, nevertheless, Karzai’s new cabinet features three female ministers, nominees with higher educational degrees and lesser known figures, signs that Karzai has now admitted some realities of the politics in Afghanistan. A question that remains is why his first list of candidates was mutilated by the parliament. Was it the natural reaction of MPs to the candidates’ record? All in all, it can be said that Karzai’s improved list is a unique development and we are eager to see parliament’s reaction to his list next week.
Whatever the judgment of the parliament, even after forming his cabinet Karzai will face two major problems: first, he has not yet suggested any fundamental plans to change his image and second, his government is slammed with allegations of corruption. Everyone knows that Karzai’s administration suffers inefficiency and corruption. A part of this problem may be due to the presence of foreign troops and intervention of external powers, as the Afghan president himself claims, but that doesn’t absolve state-run organizations from the accusations. So far, Karzai has taken no serious steps towards tackling the problem.
Back to the other key problem, Western experts believe that half of Afghanistan’s soil is under the influence of extremist groups. Things appear worse if we know that the international community, especially NATO and the United States have adopted a unilateral approach towards Afghanistan’s problems. Barack Obama’s so-called strategy still relies on ‘hard power’ and use of military weapons. Americans have forgotten that Afghanistan’s cardinal problems, security and development, are inseparable. Viewing each as an isolated case will never bring any changes to the situation. The international community has totally forgotten about economic development and improvement of life conditions and its commitments are not even as strong as seven years ago.
In total, with the problems ahead of Karzai, the shortsightedness of the international community and the presence of external powers in Afghanistan, the future seems not promising but upsetting. Together, these problems give the upper hand to extremists who take advantage of the administration’s inefficiency and the international community, and the rift between political elites and the government, to expand their zone of influence.