EDITORIAL : THE DAILY OUTLOOK, AFGANISTAN

             

 

Signing Strategic Cooperation

This year, the gradual military withdrawal will be started; while Taliban led militants have remained potentially dangerous to Afghan government. Many maintain Afghan security forces are still incapable to deal with armed anti-government opposition and overtake prevailing security crisis. They are still in due need of larger military training, skills to hold operation in guerilla types of war, increasing information about explosive materials, modern military technologies, and utilization of heavy weaponries, and other necessary skills, to cope with the situation unitarily.

However, Afghan security forces have become much better; there are worrisome concerns about their unilateral operations capability against insurgency. Such worries are further sparked by grim incidents like that of assault inside defense ministry last month that killed 2 people and injured many more.

Additionally, weeks ago Taliban militants announced their re-launch of their spring offensive assault, which was followed by assassination of Al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, who had financed them since their very existence in Afghanistan. In this juncture, Taliban warnings increased further and vowed to avenge from Afghan government and its foreign allies, particularly US. Ostensibly, their operational strength, however, decreased but will remain as a potential danger to peace and security.

Therefore, in such circumstances, Afghan people and government alike are in need of strong partnership to guarantee their protection and democratic achievements made during past ten years. In lack of such a strategic partner, there is likely that political chaos once again re-emerges and spoils institutions and values for which billions of dollars were spent and thousands of civil and militaries were sacrificed both by international community as well as by Afghan people, right after complete military withdrawal.

To ensure stability, the country needs a strong strategic supporter. Who can be better then US who has been deeply engaged and willing to stay in the country for its vested interests it has?
Current U.S. and Afghanistan, however their essentialities of their objective might be different, but they have visible shared interests, which are enough to be the cause of enactment of a long-term strategic cooperation. Frequently, the issue has been put ahead, and Afghan high-ranking officials, intellectuals, and civil society have largely supported the notion, though there is still ambiguity about the contents of such strategic pact.

But our neighbors have directly or indirectly have showed their irritation with signing of such strategic cooperation between Kabul and Washington. Some of the neighboring countries are deeply worried about legitimacy of long-term presence of US. Afghan officials have not given green signal to her neighbors avoiding such bilateral relation with Washington, and sufficed in ensuring such relation will not endanger their interests in the country. On Monday, May 16, the national security advisor to president, Dr. Spanta clearly stated that signing strategic agreement with US does not need any permission from neighboring countries, because Afghanistan was independent country.

Widening Gap is Vivid Demonstration of Distrust in Government

It is clear-cut that the continued support of the people is vital for any government. The government must not ignore to keep the people happy by implementing laws and providing services to them and any sort of discontent will lead to fall in the legitimacy of the government. The gap between the people and government is a sign of dissatisfaction of the people with the performance of the government. On Sunday, May 15, 2011, Meshrano Jirga members expressed concerns about the widening gap between the government and people due to non-implementation of laws in the country.

Senators concur with Abdul Hanan Haqyoon, saying the increasing gap between the government and people was the legacy of what he said "wrong and incompetent leadership of the country." The senator said, "People are unhappy with lawlessness that includes taking bribes, having contacts and others illegal activities in government departments." In fact, it is a vivid demonstration of distrust in the government has failed to bring any tangible changes to the lives of Afghan people. It is to be mentioned that not only government's failure to enforce the laws but also its inability to map out a clear vision for the future course of the country has led to this distance between the government and its people that continue to suffer from the consequences of these failures. They have begun to worry that their country is not moving in the right direction. The third area where the government has failed to respond to public expectations and demands is delivering services.

Afghanistan has been receiving international aid for the last ten years but the effectiveness of this aid is seriously question because there is no considerable change in the reconstruction and development fields. It is important that the government makes sure that it is heeding public opinion and their continued support. The yawning gap between the people and government should provide a food for thought and it is indicative of the fact that the government's policies continue to be ineffective and it is an evaluation of the government's flawed policies pursued over a decade, particularly in recent years. The government must respond to peoples' demands and should include their feedbacks in its policies before the gap becomes too wide to bridge and close, which will lead to the fall of the government itself.

Acting Ministers Completing Two Years!

The acting ministers have now completed almost two years remaining firm to their seats despite serious objections from various circles. Objections, because the President of Afghanistan can only appoint acting ministers when there is an emergency condition in the country or there is no parliament to approve the nominees as ministers or some other serious resembling obstacles. In such cases the tenure of an acting minister can be one month. Now that the acting ministers are very close to complete two years on their seats, it has become quite obvious that the government itself is not taking the issue as 'serious.' It seems like president Karzai administration is leaving behind an awful history of handling issues.

It is not the fault of the seven acting ministers to hold their positions for such a long period but President's and the previous parliament's. These acting ministers were among the nominees who were introduced by President on December 25, 2009 and June 26, 2010 but were rejected by the previous parliament. Amazing was this, that nominees belonging to majority were accepted and those belonging to minorities were rejected. This was followed by serious criticism from public as the judgment of the parliament was completely based on bias and prejudice. Since last year, President Karzai has tried to keep his attention diverted from this issue which is not in the benefit of country.

Last week the current parliament notified the President to introduce the remaining members of his cabinet. The parliament has sent several notification in the past too and this conceived the final, MPs maintain. It is yet to be seen that when the nominees will be send to parliament by President. Will faces be repeated? And, will parliament decide right this time? Not forget that, this is the same parliament that took more than a month to elect its speakers. Many believe decisions on major national issues would come out of this parliament after many troublesome discussions as its significant number of member is formed by people having biased kind of thinking.