The Afghan President Hamid Karzai concluded an important trip to the Untied States and returned home to, in the words of President George Bush of the United States, "go to work."
And there is much work for him to do back home than to visit abroad. His trip was very important indeed. Perhaps it was more important to President Bush than to Karzai or Afghanistan. He had to be good news for Bush among many bad ones that he has been receiving constantly of late. At least he could bank on the so-called success of the Afghan case.

One of the significant appearances he made in the United States was at the Capitol where he got a chance to address a joint session of the United States Congress on June 15, 2004. Afghan watchers and friends as well as those interested in the foreign policy standing of the United States listened carefully to what he had to say. And what he had to say to the American people through their congress was sweet words of thanks. Rather than a political address in one of the most important chambers of the world, he presented his audience with a list of thanks for the work supposedly he has accomplished in Afghanistan. He thanked America for the children who are at school in Afghanistan, he thanked America for the women activists who are registering women in remote provinces of Afghanistan to vote, he thanked America for the fledgling national army that is being trained in Afghanistan, he thanked America for giving him a chance to see that a new constitution is promulgated in the country and that men and women in his country have equal rights. He came short of thanking the United States to provide his person a chance to ascend to the seat of power in that country. He further talked about refugees returning home and said that was a sign of the peoples' confidence in the security in his country. He said his administration has started the process of reconstruction and named road construction projects. He failed to state that except the Kabul Kandahar road there is much left to be done regarding roads and highways in his country.

And of course he mentioned some of the problems facing his administration. Among these he referred to drugs. Unfortunately he did not have much in the way of achievement in this hard and difficult struggle to share. And he unfortunately did not have much in the way of plans and remedies to offer. He said he needed international help to carry on the fight against this scourge. He then referred to some common knowledge facts such as the infant and maternal mortality rates in Afghanistan being among the highest in the world. Access only of some 6 % of the population to electricity and lack of sufficient irrigational systems for the farmers was called other problems. He considered lack of refrigerated carriers to export what he called "our delicious fruits." He applauded the sacrifice of the American soldiers in securing his country from terrorists. In an anecdote, he even excused collateral damage inflicted by the US military on Afghan civilian lives, suggesting that in war things like this do happen. And after some political rhetoric all embracing the notion of his thankfulness to the United States he concluded his speech with what would be pleasing to any American politician by saying: "Ladies and gentlemen, together we have a long road ahead, but we will move forward to make the world a better place. And for us in Afghanistan, we remember you for every help that you have given us. And we will have that in our books written in golden letters. In this road, the journey is one of success and victory."

What he did not dwell upon much in his speech was the issue of resurgence of Taleban and extremist movements, worsening security in Afghanistan so much so that it may endanger the upcoming elections, the problem of low voter registration and the issue of the need to provide security during the elections, and the issue of the need for starting in earnest the process of reconstruction. He did not mention the huge problem the United Nations and other international aid agencies have regarding security needed for the smooth operation. He did not mention the difficulty of disarming the militias and the huge problem of the warlords. He did not mention his government's efforts to appease warlords and to open up venues for participation of those elements of Taleban that he considers good people whose hands are not smeared with blood. He did not mention the expanding corruption in government offices and therefore did not get a chance to elaborate on a cure for this social disease.

But overall this time over, he was received with respect and dignity and compared to his last visit when he was offered a seat on the hearing chair of the house, his reception this time at the Capitol as the head of a government was at par with appropriate protocol.

But perhaps also the President of the United States received him more warmly. He was received at the White House. In the Rose Garden, President Karzai appreciative of the warm reception as reported by Reuters said: "It's been nice visiting the United States again. One likes to stay here and no go, its such a good country." President Bush was cool to the suggestion and jokingly told the Afghan leader: "Get home and get to work, will you?" And President Karzai is reported to have said rather obediently, "Thank you, yes."

Analysts see and read a lot between the lines in this simple exchange and let us hope President Karzai's opponents in the upcoming elections do not hear of it.

But Karzai is direly needed back home. It is true that the US administration needed him here and that during his stay he got a chance to talk to the G 8 Summit, and held a number of interviews which threw further light on him as an aspiring politician, but in Afghanistan there are so much awaiting to be tackled in the way of nation building, reconstruction, reparation and or building anew of a solid infrastructure, introducing and maintaining of an effective administrative system and above all coordinating all efforts, national and international, for making democracy a reality in the war torn country. Although he oversold his achievements, yet he was also put to the scrutiny of the journalists who asked him pointed questions about his country. While politicians get away with soft answers to hard question, but they carry these questions with them and perhaps once in a while the questions resurface in their own minds and make them find a true down-to-earth answer to a true down-to-earth issue. 6/19/04