Afghanistan sees new elections, old
faces By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KABUL - Almost four years after the US-led
invasion of Afghanistan to oust the Taliban, the
country's infrastructure is still poor. Even in
the capital, few street lights work at night, a
darkness made stark and ominous by the bright
headlights of intermittent passing traffic.
The embattled residents of Kabul have a
message for visitors: "Do not expect anything
good, and stay wherever you are."
With
Afghanistan's first parliamentary elections in
three decades scheduled for Sunday, political
observers have a similar message to the one of the
street-savvy people of Kabul: "Don't expect
anything good."
On the face of it, the
elections mark a major step forward for
Afghanistan as they will bring to an end the "Bonn
process" instituted to fill the political vacuum
left by the Taliban, and they will give the
country a democratically elected parliament.
About 12 million people are registered to
vote for about 5,800
candidates who are either
standing for the 249-seat People's Council
(Wolesi Jirga) or for a seat on one of the
34 provincial councils.
But
little in Afghanistan is what it appears to be,
and a cold assessment of what is happening can
best be described as old wine in new bottles.
People are all too concerned that the same
people who have
alternately savaged and abused the country over
the past decades will be back in power.
About 25% of the candidates are members of
the Hizb-i-Islami Afghanistan (HIA) of Gulbuddin
Hekmatyar, while of the rest, many are former
jihadis or former communists. Among these combined
ranks are a number of Taliban leaders who have
been drawn into the political process, although
their true colors remain suspect. The only
difference nowadays is that all these candidates
are nominally under the US flag and acknowledge
President Hamid Karzai's administration.
Hekmatyar is a legendary mujahideen figure
who fought against the occupying Soviets in the
1980s and became premier in 1993 at the height of
the bloody civil war that followed the withdrawal
of the Soviets and the collapse of the communist
government in Kabul. He remains active in the
Taliban-led insurgency.
Khalid Farooqi and
Himayun Jarir (a son-in-law of Hekmatyar) are two
notable recent "turncoats" of the HIA who are
contesting the polls. Influential figures such as
Mohammad Yunus Qanooni (a Tajik and a former
education minister), Professor Abdul Rab Rasool
Sayyaf (a Pashtun leader ) and Burhanuddin Rabbani
(a former Afghan president), as well as prominent
jihadis and former communists have the influence
(contacts in local communities and in the
resistance) and resources (money, arms) to run
successful campaigns.
Lesser mortals,
including professionals, intellectuals and
ordinary citizens, have none of these vital tools,
and many candidates do not even have the
wherewithal to stage rallies.
"It [change]
will certainly be negative on all counts," said
Professor Khalilullah Jamili, who teaches
political philosophy and who is also a director of
the Cultural Council at Kabul University.
He told Asia Times Online: "I bet that
things will come back to square one within six
months of the general elections. I spent several
years in Germany in the field of education and
returned to my country in the hope that I would
share my services in the process of rebuilding.
Having spent several months here, I am facing a
hopeless situation.
"The current
parliamentary elections were supposed to bring
professionals, intellectuals and real politicians
into the parliament so that they could legislate
for the good in the country. However, what we
perceive is the return of the same people who
brought destruction to this country," Jamili said.
"So why can't the right people contest the
elections?" this correspondent asked, to peals of
laughter from the assembled crowd in a Kabul
restaurant.
"Where would we find the right
people in Afghanistan?" Jamili retorted.
"Twenty-five years of civil war and destruction
have produced a mess.
"Now, with the same
leaders coming back, my political acumen suggests
another civil war after six months. Contradictions
will emerge and people will point fingers
negatively on the people they elected. Guns will
remain the last answer for every problem, just
like it has in the past," Jamili concluded.
As the people of Kabul say, "Do not expect
anything good."
Syed Saleem
Shahzad, Bureau Chief, Pakistan Asia Times
Online. He can be reached at
saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com
(Copyright 2005 Asia Times Online Ltd. All
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people who have
alternately savaged and abused the country over
the past decades will be back in power.
