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EDITORIAL

May 13, 2005

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AFGHANISTAN, not Iraq for a change, is in the news for all the wrong reasons. Spontaneous demonstrations against the Government and its American backers, triggered by reports that the Holy Koran was desecrated at Guantanamo, have erupted in several cities in the country, including the Capital, Kabul.

President Karzai’s response to Wednesday’s protests has been predictable. Instead of reassuring the Afghan people and the world that order and peace would be quickly restored, Karzai chose to point out that Afghan security forces were not up to the task of dealing with such protests. The Afghan leader, currently in Brussels, wants the global community to continue helping his government. “We need international assistance for many, many years to come,” he insists.

Speaking honestly, you can’t run a country or government with foreign aid. It’s rather disturbing to see Karzai running around begging for help and financial assistance from donors, including the U.S., and E.U. -- an joining with the “coalition of the willing” that invaded Afghanistan.

More importantly, you can’t expect foreign aid to pour in if the security situation in Afghanistan remains what it is today. The U.N. recently expressed deep concern that Afghanistan has again won the dubious distinction of being the world’s largest opium producer.

It’s hardly a secret that Karzai is not in charge of Afghanistan. His government is limited to the Capital in Kabul. It’s not for nothing he is called the President of Kabul! It’s warlords like Abdul Rashid Dostum who run the show. These lawless warlords are given free reign by the U.S. and Afghan governments because they are seen to be {or claim to be} fighting the Taliban, the erstwhile rulers of Afghanistan.

Karzai, himself a Pashtun, cannot fight for the interests of the Pashtun majority. They have no warlords fighting for their interests. They continue to remain at the receiving end, because they are still identified with the Taliban.

This alienation of the majority, the Pashtuns, is at the heart of Afghan unrest. As long as the majority of the Afghan population is kept out of the political process, Afghanistan will continue to remain unstable. The violent demonstrations Wednesday, though stemming from injured religious sensitivities, are an expression of an alienated and suppressed people. The Karzai government and the U.S. would do well to heed the warning signs if they don’t want Afghanistan to go the way of Iraq. At the same time, strong action must be taken against those who perpetrated such outrage against the Holy Book.

As for international aid, it must be made conditional on decisive improvements in the situation at home. Warlords must be reined in and the opium production that keeps them and their lawless bands operating must stop. Drugs are not only a disgrace for Afghanistan’s traditional Islamic society, but also a curse for the human race.