If you think Hamid Karzai is the sole ruler of Afghanistan, think again. There are many who overtly and covertly claim power in Afghanistan. Some even point fingers at powers and people outside the country, who in one way or another play a decisive role in ruling Afghanistan. Afghanistan today, therefore has many rulers.

Karzai is the official head of state in the war torn country. International archives have recorded the name of Hamid Karzai as the president of the Islamic State of Afghanistan's transitional government. He was selected for the role of leading Afghanistan during an interim phase, by a select group of individuals who were invited by the United Nations to participate in the Bonn meeting on Afghanistan. His role was augmented by an emergency Loya Jirga, also gathered up by the United Nations and political and military factions in Afghanistan as well as nominal elections of delegates at some regions of the country. The Loya Jirga decided that Mr. Karzai should continue to lead the country during the era of transition as well. This role was assigned to him in a secret ballot by the Jirga and thus by democratic process. Whether the Jirga was a democratic event and whether it was conducted in a fully democratic way are subjects worth discussion on their own. But it is a fact that it was able to decide on a ruler for the country after the defeat of the Taleban regime by the United States massive bombardment and military attacks on Taleban fighters and their Al-Qaeda supporters including Arab and Pakistani elements.

The ruler began his formidable task with enthusiasm, many trips abroad, to the United States, the United Nations and many countries of Western Europe, Japan, Iran, Pakistan and some of Afghanistan's other neighbors and some Arab states. He distinguished himself physically by wearing a green striped cape from Northern Afghanistan and a gray Karakul cap also from the Afghan north to cover his premature balding head. This newly emerged ruler was welcomed and fancied in many international gatherings as he spoke, with considerable ease, the language of the West and depicted himself as the only hope of Afghanistan for peace, security, prosperity and reconstruction. All four items still remain as illusive today as when Karzai started as the president of Afghanistan.

Observers then started to look for reasons for the failures of the administration to achieve its goals in a rapid manner. It was not difficult to find out that Hamid Karzai was not the sole ruler. There were many Afghans and non-Afghans who shared power with him.

His living rivals for power within his own government include Marshal Fahim who boasts his own army and relies on the support of a move called the Northern Alliance. This alliance is the one the United States used in its war on Taleban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. Fahim, who inherited leadership when Ahmad Shah Masoud succumbed to an assassination attempt by suicide Arab extremists posing as journalists, is in charge of the transitional administration's defense ministry. He also inherited massive arms from the movement. He has, in his ministry, gathered numerous fighters of his movement, given them fat titles of generals and positions of authority thus augmenting his own position inflated with the rare title of Marshal.

Elsewhere in the country, Karzai has to assert his role as the national leader in the country's provinces and regions. His power is silently challenged by the powerful warlords in important provinces and regions in the west, north, and south and east of the country by controversial figures such as Ismail Khan, Dostum, Shairzai, Haji Brothers, Zadran etc. He also has to deal with remnants of former factions and Taleban elements, which constantly challenge his rule. Among these a former prime minister in the government of the so-called Mujahidin, Gulbuddin Hikmatyar, while living underground, has openly declared opposition to Karzai's rule.

Besides the above, Karzai has shared power from the beginning of his rule with a dead personality, namely the late Ahmad Shah Masoud, a freedom fighter who achieved legendary fame because of his guerilla tactics in Afghanistan's fight against the invading Soviet troops. Ahmad Shah today is everywhere where Karzai is. His pictures adorn, not only taxi cabs in Kabul, but also are omnipresent in many government offices. His tomb has become a shrine in the heart of his native Punjshair valley. His legacy, whether right or wrong, is not to be challenged. Karzai therefore has shared power of leadership with a dead man.

Historical figures, such as the Father of the Nation, a title coined by politicians of importance during the Afghan Loya Jirga, also share power with Karzai. The former King who was given the title instead of a chance to become the real leader of the country lives in the Presidential Palace which once was called the Royal Palace, enjoys privileges equal to the real leader and thus in a way shares in the power of the president.

Karzai would have been able to deal with many of these internal rivalries, if he did not have to share power in some degree with elements outside his government. It is not a secret any more that President George W. Bush, through his special representative Dr. Zalmai Khalilzad has had a big say in how Afghanistan should be ruled. The United States military shares power with the Afghan government in that its military conducts military excursions under its fight against terrorism anywhere and anytime it deems necessary in Afghanistan with or without the knowledge of the Afghan government. It has the power to arrest interrogate and send elements for imprisonment abroad. In all of this the US Secretary of Defense, Mr. Rumsfeld and the US general in charge, General Tommy Frank have also roles to play. And then there is the United Nations, its representative Mr. Ibrahimi, and the commander of the ISAF, military forces who has the military power of significance at least in the city of Kabul.

This situation has given rise to agitation among student groups and others who accuse Karzai of serving the cause of foreign interests. The US military action, such as the shooting of three Afghan soldiers by US marines has not helped the situation any better. Demonstrations against the person of the president show that the Afghans are not only aware and concerned about what goes on in their country but that in their vigil they are ready to express their opposition.

Efforts by Karzai, such as his last meeting with provincial governors where he demanded payment of customs duties collected by them to the central administration, appointing of General Dostum as his military and security advisor in Kabul and issuing of the warning that he would resign if his demands were not met are long shots, already overdue and of questionable results.

What is important is to realize that Afghanistan needs a ruler that has the power to implement decisions of the nation's elected bodies or traditional organizations such as Loya Jirga. And it is a fact that Karzai has not been provided the power he needs to be effective in maintaining of security and embarking on measures for leading the nation out of misery and destruction and into an era of reconstruction and prosperity. 5/31/03