In the heady days after the Taliban fell, Western politicians developed a simple refrain. ”This time we will not walk away,” they promised. By that they meant no repetition of what happened after Western-supported Mujahedin forces gained control of Afghanistan a decade earlier.
Foreign governments had cheered their allies’ victory, but when the Mujahedin factions fell out and destroyed Kabul in an orgy of artillery shelling, rape and murder, they turned a blind eye.
Analysts were upbeat last week as the loya jirga, or grand tribal council, chose the country’s new government. Yet, as the loya jirga ended, it was hard to be optimistic.
Admittedly, there had been unprecedentedly open debate. When it came to sharing jobs in President Hamid Karzai’s new government a balance was struck between the country’s main ethnic groups, the Tajiks and the Pashtun. But on the major issue of whether Afghanistan will be run by educated people with a vision of democratic development, the loya jirga was a disaster.
The struggle between the modernisers and the old Mujahedin leaders was won decisively by the latter.
They forced their fundamentalist views of Islam on to the assembly, demanding — and getting — the right to call the government ”Islamic”. The loya jirga also failed to enhance the power of the central government and extend it to the provinces.
How much Western governments could do to stop these internal processes can be debated. But by refusing to send international peacekeepers out of Kabul to help Karzai disarm the warlords the West is helping the forces of conservatism. By declining to make aid conditional on human rights progress, it is doing the same. Indeed, it is not even providing all the aid it promised, with or without strings attached.
Removing the Taliban was not the primary purpose of the United States air strikes on Afghanistan last year. The main goals were to capture Osama bin Laden and eliminate the danger of further al-Qaida attacks.
The Taliban’s collapse created real opportunities for progress and Kabul has become a vibrant city once again. But signs of regression are already emerging. Many delegates were concerned that when they left the spotlight of publicity and returned to the provinces they could be targeted. The fundamentalists are reasserting their authoritarian rule. In spite of its loud promises the West has begun to ”walk away”.