New Strategy for Afghanistan? Political Reform – First!
New Strategy for Afghanistan? Political Reform – First!

Summary/Abstract: The manipulated presidential election of August 2009 has provided new rationale for increasingly negative assessments of the situation in Afghanistan. The Afghans’ growing mistrust of the authorities and the administration looms, alongside the insurgents’ activities, as the country’s gravest problem. The sources of the state’s illness include not only the dismal economy and a lack of security, but a dysfunctional political system divorced from the country’s social realities. The system breeds corruption and conflicts and obstructs the discharge of the state’s fundamental functions. It follows that much of Afghanistan’s instability has internal political roots which, unless removed, will render enduring improvement of the country’s situation impossible. The presidential system, which under current conditions vests the entirety of Afghan executive power in the head of state, excludes many important ethnic, religious and tribal groups from political life. This undermines the central authorities and adds to the dysfunction of the Afghan state. The system of clientist dependencies on which Hamid Karzai has built his presidency is responsible for the corruption and nepotism which further stifle the effectiveness of the state administration. For these reasons, only the replacement of the presidential system with a parliamentary-cabinet one will provide for greater policy inclusiveness, curtail the patrimonial model of Afghan statehood, and contribute to the long-term stability of the country’s political situation [...]

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