Peter Hain has given an interview in today’s Times, much of which – though by no means all – I agree with. It focuses on Afghanistan and the issues of governance and democracy that bedevil that country and will sadly continue to do so, notwithstanding the confirmation of Hamid Karzai as president.
In particular, I agree strongly with the following analysis:
For too long Afghanistan was misunderstood by the West, he says. “Mistakes were made in the past. In Iraq they had a state run by an evil dictator but Afghanistan has always been feudal. They don’t have a state, they have never had a state. We have to build a system of government that is more organic. We can’t just have a besieged government in Kabul — not just in terms of terrorist and security threats, but contempt from the people.”
Earlier this week, I spent a fascinating hour in the company of an Afghan tribal chief, elected to that position earlier this year, He and a number of other tribal leaders have combined to create an overarching local authority, with a view to improving security in their home areas and liaising with the US and British military commanders. I found him an inspirational man, and a brave one, too; he has survived a number of attempts to take his life.
The tribes, it seems to me, offer one avenue of real hope for the Western powers to find a way through the Byzantine complexity of Afghan social and political structures and engage with the local population. How the Karzai government can be accommodated in that process is a matter that remains to be worked out.
