Abstract

Rebuilding Afghanistan

The author discusses the political situation in Afghanistan, a country still in need of enormous help from the international community. After twenty-one tension-filled days of raucous speeches, poetry readings, threats, bribery and walkouts, Afghanistan's loya jirga, held to endorse a new Constitution for Afghanistan after twenty-six years of war, concluded on January 4. Two years after the defeat of the Taliban, the loya jirga demonstrated the fact that Afghanistan's acute ethnic divisions--the underlying cause of the 1992-2001 civil war--are still rampant and that a bloc of neo-Taliban Islamic fundamentalists, who helped US forces defeat the Taliban in December 2001, can still exercise enormous influence. On the positive side, there has been a reassertion of the Pashtuns, who make up 40 percent of the country's population but have been alienated and humiliated since 2001 because the Taliban drew their support from them. The underlying reason ethnic tensions still exist two years on is the utter and irresponsible failure of the international community to live up to the promises made at Bonn in December 2001, which set out the road map for Afghanistan's future. To Washington's credit, it approved an additional $1.2 billion in late 2003, bringing its total aid commitment to $2 billion for 2004. Unfortunately, the United States has failed to persuade the European and Muslim nations to increase aid and money. Only the provision of livelihoods, security and reconstruction will ease ethnic, religious and regional tensions so that elections can be held in a meaningful and peaceful manner.