Afghanistan is poised to become “a hopeless case” – even the “biggest tragedy of the 21st century” – unless it elects political leaders who tackle drugs and graft, one presidential hopeful says.
With the campaign for the long-anticipated summer election kicking off Tuesday, some contenders say they are as concerned about the state of their young democracy as they are with the growing Taliban insurgency.
“It’s an African-style government,” Ashraf Ghani, a former Afghan finance minister, told The Globe and Mail in an interview at his home in Kabul. “The West has partnered in producing one of the most corrupt governments on Earth.”
Several contenders already have spent weeks jockeying to seize on the public’s growing disenchantment with corruption. More than 40 candidates are vying for the top job. The vote is on Aug. 20.
Mr. Ghani is among several former ministers who largely blame their former boss, President Hamid Karzai, for Afghanistan’s myriad problems.
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It should be remembered the West and the Allies haven’t been a ‘willing partner’ on the corruption charges targeted at the Afghan gov’t and ministers. The poppy production was and is complicated since subsistence farmers have depended on the bare proceeds they earned while the Taliban reaped the notable profits. But reports of actual food production crops are coming more to the fore as viable agriculture may get to materialize.
No doubt, this politician is watching the reported progress in Pakistan where the Taliban is finally (according to reports) being rejected and dealt with in Swat Valley operations and even in the Khyber Pass where top militants are being taken out. The same agenda now has to happen on the Afghanistan file. Looks like it’s in the planning and if they get the IEDs under control, by disabling the cell phone tower problems or even employing packs of bomb-sniffing dogs, the chaos will be subsumed. Get the IEDs picked up everytime and the rest will happen — a social and economic/agricultural programs can take hold. Obviously, the progress in Pakistan, is long overdue for Afghanistan. I wish the new crop of politicians set to make a debut all speed ahead. Karzai’s had his chance at the leadership stab. He’s not going to take it anywhere else, if he hasn’t to date. It involves judgment calls. Obviously he has an unacceptable failures in admin attached to his admin.