Within Karzai’s Bastion of Power
Dr. G. Rauf Roashan
In the heart of Kabul there is a high walled bastion, the Arg, which has been used as both the abode and the court of Afghan rulers and kings since the 19th century. In the many internal conflicts and the wars for power between and among Afghan princes and even other claimants to power, whoever established a hold on the Arg would be the ruler of the country. From this Arg ruled the descendents of the Great Ahmad Shah, the Mohammadzai Dynasty, who fought each other for power for the most part of the 19th century. It was also from this Arg that the founder of the first Afghan republic Mohammad Daood (1973), and during the black decade in the life of Afghanistan, the puppet communist leader Noor Mohammad Taraki and other protégées of the Kremlin like Hafizullah Amin, the KGB agent Babrak Karmal and Najibullah ruled Afghanistan.
It was also from this bastion that the first President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Mojadedi, on behalf of the Mojahidin, ruled Afghanistan for two months in early 1991 after the defeat of the Red Army. And later it was in this Arg that the leader of another Mojahedin faction, Burhanuddin Rabbani took over as President for four months after Mojadedi, but refused to give up power for many years until 1996. These were sad years in Afghan history as internal fighting for power by the Mujahidin resulted in huge destruction and loss of innocent lives.
Then came the Taleban, a creation of Pakistani Madrassa, religious schools, system, who were ushered into power riding over a feeling of popular discontent with the Mojahedin governments and their failure to establish security in the country. The era of the black reaction of Taleban lasted from 1996 to 2001.
And when Taleban were expelled from power by one of the strongest US military interventions in October of 2001, two men found their way into the Arg through processes that included the Bonn meeting in December 2001 and traditional Loya Jirgas or Grand National assemblies of the Afghans in 2002.
The ex-King Mohammad Zahir Shah lives in the living quarters, Haramserai, of the Arg, where he had lived for over forty years of his rule as King of Afghanistan before his almost thirty years of life in exile in Italy. He is now holding tight to an honorary title of “Father of the Nation” and passes his old age in his old bedroom by himself since his queen passed away two years ago in Rome.
The other more important man in the Arg is a man who made history by becoming the first ever President of Afghanistan elected by popular vote in November of 2004 when he won over 55 percent of votes. This democratically elected President is a man who has to wear many hats. Physically he wears the traditional Afghan headwear of Karakul cap, a becoming sheepskin cap that comes in three colors, gray, black and brown. His is usually the gray pelt. But dictated also by tradition and culture he has to act as the President, tribal chieftain, ruler, king, elder, diplomat, administrator, judge and a benevolent leader.
Like all political leaders, he has supporters and fans. He perhaps also has many enemies and critics. His supporters see in him a national leader, indispensable under the circumstances, as there is no one like him to fill his post. His enemies call him an individual largely under the influence of foreign interest. Some nationalists are angry with him because of the slow pace of development and reconstruction in the country. Others offer him help in his difficult task of leading a postwar, insecure and problematic country. People knowingly and unknowingly expect him to perform miracles. He is no magician. This drives many away from him. His enemies either do not know the complexity of the Afghan situation or have no inkling of the affairs of the state especially in the complex national and international arenas.
This man offered this scribe a chance to visit him in his bastion of power by going to Kabul, Afghanistan. A keen observer of the Afghan issues and events, I gratefully obliged mostly also to satisfy my curiosity as to the workings of a person who was first put in charge of the destiny of his nation by circumstance, but later was deputed by his nation in a democratic process to lead the country during one of its most important historical eras.
I was familiar with the Arg where my father worked half a century ago at the Secretariat of the King. The high walls of the bastion, the tall gates and the fully armed guards and gatekeepers, most of the time unfriendly and angry, did not intimidate me. I was also familiar with courts and courtiers of the King with whom I had dined some thirty years ago. I was aware of the flattery that goes on in palaces and courts and corridors of power to please the leaders even at the cost of misleading them. I was not new to the proximity of power. But the opportunity was intriguing and at stake was my emotional investment in hope for the future of a country I have loved all my life. I vowed to myself that whatever happens I would not compromise the integrity of my conviction or my impartial judgment.
The President received me warmly and sincerely. In his presence I felt calm and comfortable. He talked to me as if he knew me for a long time. He went directly to the point, no beating around the bush. With a sincerity that encompassed his feelings about the country he posed direct questions to me. I felt like outpouring the contents of my heart to him on issues I already knew much about. So did he. It was comforting to me to see that the man who has the reign of power in his hand in Afghanistan is different from his predecessors. He is not only young, but educated, a voracious reader, I was told, and in full grasp of world affairs. He may have weaknesses, but time and occasion were too short for me to judge. What both amazed and concerned me was the fact that he was so lonely in his lofty position. There were many people who worked “for” him. I did not see anyone who worked “with” him. Those who worked for him seemed like a team of young and highly educated and dedicated people. Among them there were some middle-aged people of course. I noticed a few young professionals who were not only there at the strength of their education alone, but who had proven themselves as earnest workers and result producers. This was good. What concerned me was lack of familiarity with the recent past by the staff. Education alone or technology by itself may not prove effective in righting the wrongs of the society unless some degree of experience is also mixed with them. Experience of the country, of the people and of what works and what does not work in the Afghan society must be given its due place in the process of development. To the detriment of the claims of the critics, the Afghan President is now guarded by young professionally trained, serious looking, Afghan body guards who seem very efficient and in control. This is good, because at this time there is only one Karzai in whom the Afghans have placed their trust. But perhaps the high walled bastion and the efficient bodyguards, create a distance between him and his nation and deprive him of first hand information of the ills of the country. To overcome the problem, an old mechanism exists whereby elders and representatives of the people and tribes in groups call on the national leader and discuss with him their grievances. I witnessed two occasions whereby this mechanism was used to its full. The tribal representatives on one occasion and elected representatives of the people of a province on another called on the President and lunched with him. During the occasion they talked extremely maturely with the President. The talks were simple, honest and to the point, but coated with a thick layer of flattery. The President listened, acknowledged their points of view, promised further study of the situation and like a born leader and diplomat bid them farewell until an indefinite meeting in the future. As I was witnessing the occasion I told myself: this is how the President keeps in touch with his subjects. Then I pondered over the word subject. It is not customary to use this word regarding a president’s relations with his nation; but I was in the Arg, and Arg was part of the court of Afghan kings and the representatives who had called on him treated him not so much as a president, but as a king. As he listened to the speeches filled with his praise, he must have felt pride. After all he is human. Yet courts and courtiers are known to have corrupted many a soul. If he can remain immune to flattery, he would become a super leader in history.
The Arg operated smoothly, an all-Afghan affair. There were no foreigners, no foreign advisers and no evidence of foreign influence that I could detect. The staff represented all Afghans. They seemed happy to be able to work for the President. Yet, nobody, not even his Minister Advisors, would say they were working “with” the President. They were rather jubilant over the fact that they were working “for” him. And when the President said good-bye to me and benevolently wished me success, I saw him walking toward his office as a lonely man. I could only imagine the weight of the great burden he was carrying on his shoulders and the need for people to share the burden with him.
While inside the bastion there was peace, respect, fear of authority and the desire to serve, the story outside was different. Security was breached almost constantly in the restive South of the country and elsewhere, reconstruction was at a snail’s pace, corruption had become part of daily life in the government structure, people complained that aid money was wasted and there was little evidence of any coordinated effort to take account of it. The people looked at a newly seated parliament with suspicion as it included warlords, militia leaders, elements suspected of war crimes and even many illiterate individuals. There was a great need for coordination of work within the government and streamlining of the interdependence of the US-Afghanistan relationships. The economy, social services of health and education and urgent reparation of the infrastructure needed much work. Most of the above required time. Neither the government nor the people could wait long to embark on finding of solutions to these problems. Yet nation building is an arduous task and there is no magic way of circumventing the requirement of time.
On my return, as the plane was leaving behind the snow-clad landscape of Kabul, my mind was filled with a variety of emotions. Afghanistan needed work, its leader needed input by experienced impartial individuals, and its people needed hope. 1/10/2006
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