Afghan govt still faces legitimacy crisis

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_21-11-2003_pg4_15


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KABUL: A senior official of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said on Thursday that the Afghan government still faces difficulties winning full acceptance by the local public.

Sultan Aziz, senior advisor to the UN mission, also said former militia members must be disarmed while creating a government representative of the Afghan population.

“The problem of disarmament in Afghanistan is not like other disarmaments in other places of the world. The problem of Afghanistan is the crisis of legitimacy,” he said in a press briefing on the progress of reconstruction here.

“It is about the deconstruction of rival power structures to the government. That’s the challenge” in bringing stability in the war-torn nation, he said.

All the mistakes in Afghanistan (not that there were any) have been analyzed, and the correct solution will be applied in Iraq. Nothing to worry about at all. And once Iraq is up and running like a top (should be by February*, March at the latest), the always-thorough Bush administration will turn its attention back to Afghanistan, iron out any wrinkles that might persist, and have thinks in apple-pie order. Why, the media can practically write their success stories now!

*You may notice that the actual year is not mentioned, but that would be a violation of the USA PATRIOT Act.