As a return to normal has taken an abnormally long time after the establishment of the transitional government in Afghanistan, the people find themselves perplexed with the multiplicity of problems surrounding their daily lives.

Let us look at the money issue as "money is the object". A new Afghani introduced by the central bank has taken ever so long to make an impression in the country's devastated economy. The situation has kept the money changers who serve as phantom agents of the bank, busy, speculating, selling and buying in an unregulated market. The situation has also perplexed the initiator of the move, the Governor of Afghanistan Bank. He has recently admitted that after many years of teaching political science in the US, his own practical education has just begun. International monetary agents in Afghanistan are not optimistic either about the economy. They suggest that for the economy to recover it needs greater input by more educated Afghans who are presently scarce inside the country.

Let us look at the issue of health and disease. Tommy Thompson, the US Secretary of Health and Human Services has returned from a quick trip to Afghanistan, worried deeply about the health situation of the Afghans. The United Nations Children Fund, UNICEF, has come up with a report of the highest mortality rate for women at child birth ever recorded in human history. The figure is almost one thousand times that of the United States. It says many new born babies do not get to cherish the warmth of the arms of their mothers as their mothers die soon after giving birth. The figures also serve as an indicator of the worse health conditions that lead to the high mortality rate. There are many reasons for this and prevention methods are there if only they could be applied.

Look at the security issues. Hardly a day goes by without the report of war, or an attack on a military base, or excesses committed against the weak by the strong (maximally armed warlords and their supporters) or news of the threat of Taleban supporters just across the border with Pakistan.

And look at the administration weaknesses. President Karzai has started talking tough and has even taken steps to fire those within the government system including in some of the provinces who are accused of corruption and looting and even killing of ordinary citizens, drug trafficking and other crimes. The same report is amost always accompanied by concerns expressed by Karzai's inner circles over whether his orders could be enforced because he lacks sufficient power. The situation, while confirming his stand, can also eat on his image as a national leader who is not sure whether his decisions will carry or not. Some people have started looking at him as a leader who needs to be guarded by foreign forces in his own country, because his own country is in a political uncertain situation. News of accomplishments by the government ministries are very few and far apart.

Look at the warlords. The US forces in Afghanistan get and listen to reports such as the one by the Human Rights Watch that had described violation of human rights in Western Afghanistan. Yet, the US commander has confirmed the US resolve to continue helping the warlords notwithstanding the excesses they commit only because they had helped the US in its fight against the Taleban and that a national army does not exist at the present time and thus the warlords need to be strengthened by the US.

Look at the UN Security Assistance Forces. These forces have been able to maintain some degree of security only in Kabul the capital.This is not to say that high ranking officials were not assassinated on their watch in Kabul. Yet, as a positive manifestation of the role of these security forces, the more than a quarter of a century of curfew imposed on nigh life of Kabul was lifted and now the Kabul residents, for the first time, can take their ill to hospitals at any time of the night and or travel within the city freely. But the limited security thus provided does not go beyond the fringes of the inner city of Kabul. Repeated requests for the expansion of the number and area of coverage by these forces to include other provinces have fallen on deaf ears.

Thus the light at the end of the tunnel leading to a prosperous, peaceful normal life for the Afghans has just remained the tiny light that was lit with the toppling down of the Taleban regime. So far it has not led the country anywhere out of its miseries. 11/08/02