My local paper, the Eastside Journal, ran a headline today, that really surprised me.
It said: "U.S. presses Afghan leader to get tough with warlords.

How can U.S. expect President Karzai to do a thing like that? If, by chance, the US authorities do not really remember, there are thousands of Afghans in this country, and President Hamid Karzai there in Kabul, Afghanistan, who know for a fact that the US has many warlords in various parts of Afghanistan on her payroll who are supposed to be ”hunting for the remnants of Taliban and their Al-Quaeda colleagues.” The US mass media has given the inability of the central government to carry out the hunt due to the fact that it does not have much control outside of Kabul, whereas the various warlords are well- equipped militarily to deal with any Taliban and Al-Quaeda remnants.  What I presume the Americans do not realize is that the US dollar is a very valuable and sought-after commodity in Afghanistan.   The warlords know that in order to keep those US dollars coming, they must not hand over Taliban and/or Al-Quaeda operatives in the country to the United States, even if they are there and are causing trouble for the central government or the Afghan nationals at large. Where will they get such moneys from, once these elements are disposed of?

With many warlords thus involved with the US on the one hand, and with quite a few provincial rulers offering lip service to the government in Kabul while enjoying feudalistic little kingdoms of their own on the other hand, any keen observer of affairs in that war-torn country, clearly knows that Hamid Karzai’s hands are tied and his government—if it can be called a government at all—are unable to do anything about remedying the situation.

The newspaper article further mentioned that Karzai has a national army of 4000 soldiers and officers which he should use to impose his policies.  A country of 250,000 square miles and approximately 22 million nationals, which during the peaceful reign of King Mohammad Zahir Shah had a national army of 90,000 is expected to control 29 provinces and who knows how many warlords. Do the US Pentagon authorities really think Karzai can bring order in his country with 4000 poorly paid soldiers?  The White House is very well aware of the various visits of Karzai to the United Nations and his calls upon President Bush for funds to raise an army of at least sixty thousand salaried soldiers and officers.  Only then can he be expected to stop disorder of all kinds throughout his land.

Has Karzai received financial assistance from any source?    He was promised help by the US right after the downfall of the Taliban regime, when he was chosen to lead the country for 18 months.  Under the UN or US auspices the last meeting of the donor countries in Japan, jointly promised to give $4,5 billion dollars for the reconstruction of Afghanistan.  The establishment and running of an effective government in the country was, and is, among the first priorities of any well-funded government in Afghanistan.   If President Hamid Karzai is expected to  reign in the warlords and make any number of almost self-appointed governors to hand over the hundreds of million dollars of revenues in custom duties and taxes to the central government, he should have a free hand in implementing such a huge task.  He should the resources to assemble and employ manpower and a military might to disarm the warlords and their armies.    He should have the administrative power to make those governors recognize the authority of the central government and obey the laws and the established patterns of government in Afghanistan. All revenues and taxes in the country must be handed over to the central government and then any governor may request assistance for help in various fields from the central government.

I think it is inadvisable to threaten some governors to either conform or be deposed and replaced by another governor.   What can Karzai do, if such a threatened governor refuses to step down, especially as he only has 4000 soldiers under his command?  Will a new governor to a province be able to carry out his duties when the stooges of a deposed governor would not cooperate with him?   One can name some provinces where the governors have not passed on any revenues and taxes to Kabul, but have used large sums to maintain an army, and even used funds on projects that they have deemed.   I am not certain that the inhabitants of those provinces would side with the far away central government in the latter’s attempts to firmly establish its authority, or in its successful confrontation with the culprit provincial governors.

Better consider the suggested methods of bringing law and order to Afghanistan through strengthening its central government.   Better enable Karzai to achieve his ultimate goals of completing the tasks of establishing an army (just to maintain peace) and a police force and to complete drafting a new constitution for Afghanistan.   Better assist President Karzai and the  ex-King to assemble a rightfully chosen  Loya Jerga in Kabul in time  to pass the constitution and finally  to elect a free government to run the country democratically and properly.    Any help that the US can render the present regime of President Hamid Karzai accomplish his  goals, will be widely lauded by the Afghan nation and all peace-loving peoples of the world. 05/14/2003