A year into Ashraf Ghani's presidency, many Afghans ready to give up - latimes

The last time Faisal, 19, stood in a line of hundreds in western Kabul, it was to vote in the second round of Afghanistan's 2014 presidential election.

Faisal, who works at a tailoring shop, said he cast his ballot for President Ashraf Ghani, even though he was there as an observer for the rival candidate. At the time, Faisal was confident that Ghani was the right choice.

"He had a plan for everything," said Faisal, who, like others interviewed for this story, gave only his first name.

A year later, Faisal said he regrets having voted. The lines he now stands in are at the Central Passport Department, where he and hundreds of Afghans wait each day in the hope of obtaining documents that will eventually let them leave their homeland.

The crowds outside the passport office — which have numbered in the thousands on some recent days, according to media reports — are a sign of a growing lack of faith among Afghans in the internationally brokered national unity government led by Ghani.

Beset by accusations of infighting among the rival camps and a lack of clarity on Abdullah's powers, the government has failed to make progress in ending the conflict with Taliban-led insurgents or in boosting the economy, which took a huge dive during the drawn-out, 10-month-long election process

"They've shown they can't stand by their words," Faisal said.

Many Afghans — particularly young men from the country's south and east, where the conflict has been deadliest — have joined the throngs of migrants and refugees making the perilous journey to Europe.

In the last few months, thousands in Kabul have lined up outside the main passport office and the embassies of Iran, Pakistan and Turkey, seeking visas. Many have also queued outside passport bureaus in Jalalabad and Herat, two major cities that, like Kabul, are relatively safe.

"There is increasing insecurity and unemployment, which are leading to an economic crisis," said Karzai's longtime spokesman, Aimal Faizi. "There is a clearly divided government that has been split among two rival camps and as such, the authority of the Afghan president, more than ever before, is very limited and in rapid decline." - Read More at latimes
A year into Ashraf Ghani's presidency, many Afghans ready to give up

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