Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Tuesday, November 12th, 2024

The Formidable Challenges and President Karzai’s Failure

The challenges lying ahead of President Hamid Karzai in his current term are formidable. International community is walking out of Afghanistan without a stable political system, leaving the room for more intrusions and interferences by hostile neighbors, and increasing the country's chance of descent into chaos. President Karzai is responsible to make sure that Afghanistan does not succumb to the aggressive meddling from neighboring countries and that the specter of decline into new round of civil conflict does not realize by pursuing a wise, prudent and inclusive policies.

In addition, Afghanistan has to regulate sort of permanent relations with its western allies through strategic partnership agreements. President Karzai has the responsibility to make sure that these agreements are signed based on national interests of Afghanistan. Unfortunately, President Karzai appears to be encircled by a completely incompetent and ethno-centrist team.

This team wants to direct the partnership to be made towards vested interests of certain circles inside and outside the government. President Karzai has lost his credibility and legitimacy among his main supporters and they are now developing into strong political alliances and coalitions with clear and articulate policy alternatives to address the root causes of the ongoing political, economic and security crises. The formation of National Front of Afghanistan that is pursuing an acceptable policy of political reforms, and National Coalition is a point in case.

Due to President Karzai's flawed and non-transparent policies, people no longer accept him as their representative as the National Front ofAfghanistan (ANF), for instance, on Saturday, March 17, 2012 said that the current government lacks credibility and political legitimacy to sign the Strategic Partnership Document with the United States and it should be postponed until the next Presidential election is held in 2014.

The Front that represents over 50 percent of Afghan population backs the signing of a long-term partnership agreement between the country and the United States of America (USA) per se but does not view President Karzai's government as a legitimate reprehensive to strike the deal.

Faizullah Zaki, the spokesman for the Front, said in a press conference, "The current stance of the Government on strategic partnership agreement with the US is more of a political bargaining for the interests of a circle in the Presidential Palace, who do not represent all the people of Afghanistan." The Taliban and other main insurgent groups that have been called as "upset brothers" as part of president Karzai's appeasement policy and effort continue to call president Karzai as a puppet and his government as a stooge.

The difference between President Karzai's loyal oppositions and the Taliban militants and other insurgent outfits is that the former wants political reforms and believes that such reforms must emerge from within the parameters of democratic formulas because they have accepted democracy as the "only game in town."

Linz and Stepan believe that democracy becomes the only game in town when all the actors in the polity become habituated to the fact that political conflict will be resolved according to the established norms and that violations of these norms are likely to be both ineffective and costly. But the later (armed oppositions to president Karzai's government) wants to install a repressive Islamic emirate to replace the current democratic processes and human rights and women's rights discourses.

They are deeply habituated to the fact that the only way to resolving differences is violence and thus making it the only game in town. That is why civil society groups, democratic political parties and majority of Afghan people have antipathy towards the Taliban. President Karzai seems to be failing and lack a will to demonstrate a prudent leadership to overcome these challenges to keep the country unified and united.