Once a year the great political circus in New York opens its great hall for showmanship by the world leaders who perform a variety of magic tricks to impress other magicians and through them the world at large.

There is a good degree of pomp and décor and limousines and chauffeur driven cars carrying interestingly attired people from a variety of countries of the world and delivering them to the great skyscraper by the water in Manhattan.

Once inside, the marble stage and the presidium sitting up high on it spill sober authority. Up on the stage sits the elected president of the United Nations General Assembly for the current session. The Secretary General who sits next to him helps him openly and constantly. In front of them is a podium from where the world leaders and or foreign ministers address the assembly. It was from such a forum that the Soviet era strong man, Khruschev addressed the Assembly while pounding his show on the podium. It was from the same stage that the Soviets openly lied to the world that they had not installed missiles in Cuba targeting the United States. It was from the same stage that the Soviet delegations frequently denied military intervention in Afghanistan while close to one hundred thousand troops of the Red Army were marching into their then neighboring country Afghanistan. The UN history has hundreds of these examples recorded in its documents and documentations.

Last week, the head of the world's only superpower, the United States stood behind the podium to address the UN General Assembly and ask for the United Nations help in the reconstruction of Iraq. The world still remembered the echo of his administration's claim only a few months ago that as far as the United States was concerned, the UN was irrelevant. Now suddenly they were being made aware of not only the UN's relevancy, but also of the need for its help.

Also last week, Afghanistan's President of the transitional government got to address the world body. He made a speech that was meant to impress the world and show that Afghanistan has now risen from the ashes of war, thanks to the United States, and that, again thanks to the United States, the situations in this South-central Asian country have drastically improved. The speech talked of change for the better and developments in the direction of peace and prosperity. It told the world that the country on its easy ride to democracy had drafted a constitution and that the nation had widely been consulted on this issue. It told the world of the upcoming elections next year in Afghanistan. It further showed to the world that its president was well aware of the ideas of its nation. It said: "The people of Afghanistan, we know from the public consultation conducted in connection with the constitution drafting process, want a modern unitary state that is committed to Islamic values and the preservation of peace and national unity." For a president to have a full grasp of what the people of his country want is a big plus and Karzai in his speech confirmed at least this issue. He said: " Our people demand the establishment of truly national and competent institutions, notably the Army and the Police. Afghans want state institutions that are professional and representative; and an administration that is efficient and free of corruption." All of these were philosophical interjections that could very well be copied from a book on government. What were lacking were the methods to deal with these issues in practice in an emerging democracy in a third world country.

On the issue of economic recovery Karzai told the world body: "Having started from a below-zero baseline, the 30 percent economic growth rate which Afghanistan enjoyed last year is a promising start." He then pointed to some of the measures his administration had taken for the economic recovery.

What Karzai did not tell the world eager to listen was important and practical issues such as an answer to the question of what is 30 percent of zero? He did not tell the world of the many problems his country faces and of his administrations failure to address or correct those. He did not tell the world about the threat of revival of Taleban and Talebanism mainly due to his government's failure to fully unite against this real threat and his administration's inability to provide security and prosperity. He did not tell the world about a variety of crime prevalent in the society mainly because of warlords, factional powers and the culture of gun. He did not tell the world that factional commanders who live by the power of their guns want the farmers to share their harvest with them and that they themselves live as free boarders on the society. He did not tell the world of the level of poverty in the country that has led to crimes against children, who are taken from their families and are sold to sex markets or for purposes of brain washing for use by fanatical organizations. He did not tell the world about the level of rape, obstruction of justice, trampling upon the rights of individuals and land grasping in favor of the factional commanders, warlords and gunmen. He did not speak about the trafficking and smuggling of illegal drugs by the so-called commanders with the guns. He did not tell the world about the rampant corruption within his own government where officials thrive on bribes rather than live on their salaries that are insufficient and take many months in coming. He did not tell the world of the need for working on the basic economic infrastructure of the country, its agriculture, its village level development, the need for electrification of rural Afghanistan, the need to create a master plan for irrigation, agricultural seed improvement and distribution, fertilizer production and distribution companies, development of small industries and mapping out of a master plan for tapping mineral resources of the country. He did not mention about the need for developing of basic health and medical services. He only took pride in the number of children who were enabled to go to school during his administration. He did not mention the fact that many of these social services have been rendered to the areas under the influence of the strongest warlords and that the need remains unmet in other areas of the country. He did not tell the world about the difficulties he has in training of the national army and of the police. He did not tell the world about his plans to free his government from warlords and factional leaders who have armies many times stronger than the national one. He only told the world what was diplomatically feasible and advisable. He scored high with his international friends.

Considering the fact that Karzai became president of a post-war country with tremendous amount of problems, he deserves the credit for his ability to survive the adverse political situations in the country and presiding over a cabinet that has not been his own choice and coexisting with rivals and rival groups. All of this, however, has made his administration weak and his own writ geographically limited.

But he also showed the world that he has by now changed into a politician that Afghanistan needs for its government and reconstruction. He has a grasp of the issues and if we go by the saying that diagnosis is half treatment, he has been made aware of many ills of his society. 9/27/03