Afghanistan's Might-Have Been | Foreign Policy - STEVE COLL

Former presidential hopeful Abdullah Abdullah tells Washington that supporting Hamid Karzai and doing right by Afghanistan aren't the same thing.

"The success of the Afghan government ... will depend on the trust and sympathy of the majority of people in Afghanistan," he told his American audience. Unless the country's government drastically improves, the Taliban would still find willing recruits among Afghanistan's population. Afghans "want a moderate Islamic country, democracy, equal rights, respect for women's rights, education, and [to live] at peace with one another in a dignified manner," Abdullah asserted.

Abdullah Abdullah: First of all, the peace jirga is mainly a government-led initiative. It should have been a national, much more broadly based initiative, in order to gain the trust of the people. Some people in the country have interpreted this effort as an attempt to bring the Taliban back.

It is also important is to replace the Taliban system [of government] with a system that functions much better. We shouldn't be in a situation after 8 years, billions and billions of dollars spent, and many lives sacrificed to say that we want to create a better system than the Taliban -- it should be absolutely different from it as possible. That part can make a military strategy fail.

For example, the worst-case scenario for Afghanistan is premature withdrawal, subcontracting the case to a neighboring country like Pakistan. This is what had happened post-Cold War, and as a result of that we have today's mess -- the suffering of your people and our people. These are the things that should be taken out of the agenda. And then what remains? Commitment, long-term commitment. With foresight, and political will, and determination. - Afghanistan's Might-Have Been Foreign Policy

Afghanistan: A Look Ahead NewAmerica.net
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