The convening of a grand assembly in Kabul almost a year and a half ago, raised hopes for the establishment of an active transitional government entrusted with a long list of emergency operations entrusted to it by the emergency Loya Jirga.

Among these were establishment of a national army, provision for a legislative body, drafting of a new constitution, preparations for elections and convening of a constitutional Loya Jirga to pave the way for a permanent government. These were to provide both solace and hope for the peace to return to the land of the Afghans and for life to assume normalcy and for avenues to open for a prosperous future for the country.

There were other tasks that were expected from the transitional government to perform, like provision of emergency help to the hungry, provision of minimum social services to a nation that has suffered greatly, providing for the return of the refugees with provision of housing and employment for them, revitalizing of the system of government such as starting and jump starting of education, reparation and or establishment of health services, provision of basic requirements for the recuperation of a devastated economy and above all maintaining of peace and security and a vigorous start of the tremendous task of reconstruction.

A look at what goes on in Afghanistan shows that the transitional government has lagged behind in all spheres. Let us look at two examples: The great task of formation of a national army has progressed at something slower that snail pace. Of the 70,000 troops for the army only a meager 2,000 have been trained. Even these stay with the government because they are paid a dollar salary that is slightly higher than any job they could obtain outside the army. But the budget for their salary is dwindling and is finite and therefore the numbers might dwindle also.

Of the huge task of reconstruction, the government has only announced resurfacing and reparation of the road out of Kabul westward to Kandahar. This project is financed from the assistance extended by the United States that has military bases in Bagram, near Kabul and in Kandahar and an overall military presence with 8,000 troops in Afghanistan.

Security has improved only in Kabul and to the degree that the long nightly curfew in the city has been called off. But reports of robberies, regular attacks on foreign military personnel and internal wars and feuds among factions have continued. It is increasingly reported that remnants of Taleban and Al-Qaeda in collusion with certain groups of the so called former Mujahideen are conducting attacks on US military installations and personnel in the country and especially in the southern provinces.

A constitutional drafting committee is supposedly busy studying or drafting of a new constitution, but there is no news of any progress by it, nor any effort by its members to seek input by Afghan intelligentsia and or Afghans with knowledge or experience in the field.

The government affairs are run by ministers who were expected of performing near miracles in their domain of activities. It now seems that the government in Kabul is governing only Kabul and that the ministers are slipping into a routine that breeds stagnation. Powerful warlords in charge of great chunks of Afghanistan's geography run their fiefdom almost independently. There is no effective coordination between the center and the provinces. Coordination mechanism is missing horizontally also among ministries. Kabul has slowly changed into a jungle of NGO activity each competing to earn favors with the ministers and ministries. NGO emblems adorn sides of four wheel drive vehicles traversing almost aimlessly the expands of Afghan capital and rarely outside. Routine has returned into much of Kabul administration whereby an army of clerical staff are busy writing interoffice and inter and intra-ministerial letters that create more problems instead of solving them. Reconstruction is looked upon as a routine that does not move because of lack of coordination and or duplication of tasks and duties within the government. For example there is more than one ministry that is in charge of reconstruction. There is a ministry of reconstruction. There is a ministry of planning. There is also the ministry of finance, the ministry of rural development, the ministry of industries, and many other ministries and departments that are also in charge of reconstruction. Yet to find what is being reconstructed seems to be awaiting a coordinated priority based decision.

It is true that some spectacular things have also happened. Women, many still wearing burqas, can go out and seek work that is not there. On the positive side, girls in thousands, can now go to schools. This seems as the only field that has enjoyed high priority because women and children make great news outside the country.

Otherwise routine is slowly taking over what was expected to be true developmental activity on the part of a new Afghanistan. It is time, the transitional government dragged the administration from this great enemy called routine and take up the task of performing the job that was entrusted to it by the representatives of the nation. 01/18/03