To Oversell Afghan Tranquility and Progress
Dr. G. Rauf Roashan
Both the United Nations and the United States would like to exhibit
Afghanistan's case as a success story of their efforts, their visions
for peace and their scheme for democratization of a third world country.
On the one hand, there is a suffering nation that has endured imposed
wars for many years, has been subjected to tyranny and dictatorship,
and on the other there is the story of the American war against terrorism.
Both of these issues remain as a constant presence in the minds of the
people worldwide. Politicians everywhere would like to take credit for
real and imaginary achievements in these fields. There are elections
that will be held in Afghanistan in September and in the United States
in November. And when democracies lead citizens to polling stations,
these issues would count heavily on their minds. On the other side of
the coin is the leader of Afghanistan who is equally interested in selling
and even overselling of the success of his administration. After all
his office is also up for election.
President Bush has invited President Karzai of Afghanistan to visit
the United States and carry out talks with him at the White House and
also to participate in the meetings of the G8 Summit here. The two presidents
would talk between themselves on mutual issues and to the people about
the successes achieved in Afghanistan. They would both state that Afghanistan
is secure and well on the road to economic recovery. They will tell
the world that Social institutions are operating smoothly in Afghanistan.
They will tell the people that human rights are fully observed in the
country and that women are well on the road for full emancipation in
the social and political affairs of Afghanistan. They will even give
statistical evidence and say that Afghanistan's economy grew 30 percent
last year and is poised for a growth of another 20 percent this year.
They will speak about the formation of the national army and the efforts
for disarming of the militias. President Bush would congratulate Karzai
on his achievements and Karzai would extend his appreciations for the
military and economic help of the Untied States. They will both smile
to the participants of the press conferences and would enthusiastically
respond to favorable questions and get angry with the pointed ones.
President Bush needs this to be a perfect show to be used for the purposes
of his own election and President Karzai would like this to go smooth
so that he could use it for his own election campaign needs.
But the facts would still vary considerably from the many presentations
of the Afghan case during this visit, which will not touch on the failures
of the formation of the national army and or the attritions that are
constantly experienced in the ranks of the enrolled troops. The visit
would not like to touch on the issue that in Afghanistan, American troops
get killed, international aid workers get killed, Taleban dare to attack
in the daylight international aid workers like those of the Doctors'
Without Frontiers. There will not be a mention of the fact that only
in West Kabul there are 15,000 families that live under utter poverty
and among them there are 1000 orphans who do not go to school and do
not get educated, but as urchins have to live the life of beggars.
While there would be a reference somewhere on the issue of the problem
of opium cultivation in Afghanistan, there will be nothing to report
about what effective measure if any, the government has or can take
against this scourge. While there would be a mention of the promulgation
of a constitution and the effort of rather slow registration of voters
for the elections, there will be no mention of the fact that in both
of these efforts the United Nations rather than the government has rendered
most of the work. There will be many opportunities for the visiting
Afghan president to the United States to express vigorously his country's
need for financial assistance. He would complain repeatedly that the
aid giving agencies have failed to provide his administration with sufficient
funds. But he would not be able to present his detailed plans for the
reconstruction of the country, nor financial planning for the same,
because most of the aid he receives would go to sustain the routine
of his administration and the survival of a government now sadly dependent
on foreign aid even for payment of the salaries of its officials. There
will be no mention of the huge problem of corruption within the administration
and especially among the low rank office holders. There is little to
be mentioned about development of agriculture and or industry. There
will be no mention of the Afghan farmer's needs for fertilizers, seeds,
agricultural machinery and advice. There will be no mention of the fact
that there is a dire need for tapping and improving water resources
for the country that suffered for almost five years of consecutive drought
and for activating of the underground water channels, the Karaizes,
or canals, wells and dams. All of this would remain in abeyance because
the central government has little authority in the provinces where warlords
are the unchallenged lords and rulers.
However, the expectation from Karzai, a patriot by nature, is to ignore
politics, and instead of wheeling and dealing with the warlords and
international centers of power, roll up his sleeves, call a spade a
spade, admit to the problems facing his country and his administration
and seek honest solutions for the same. The Afghan nation does not need
rhetoric; it needs action and results. Let its president try to not
oversell and elusive success of his administration to meet political
needs of other politicians, but to stick to reality of his problems
and seek down-to-earth and effective assistance in solving them. Let
its president discuss his political problems, his economic challenges,
his country's need to fight against disease, against poverty, against
insecurity and social problems. Let him share his vision with the world
of a society for Afghanistan, where instead of warlords, peace and prosperity
would be the rulers and where clear plans for reconstruction based on
priorities and time limits would lead governmental efforts rather than
political considerations for achieving and keeping of power.
Let us hope that the visiting President of Afghanistan does not solely
engage in overselling of the achievements of his administration during
his visit to the United States and instead embark on a discussion of
the problems facing his government and his country. Let him talk about
economic problems and the remedies he has planned for them. Let him
discuss social problems such as human rights and the rights of women
and children and what measures he has taken to maintain them. Let him
talk about the problem of drugs, resurgence of Taleban and warlordism
in Afghanistan and his plans to combat them. Let him talk about poverty
and disease and how to eliminate them. Let him seek help, technical
and otherwise from experts, compatriots and technological facilities
to overcome the many problems of his country. Only then would people
believe in him to be a leader and not a political salesperson.6/7/04
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