What a Legitimacy Problem Looks Like
Atta Mohammad Noor, governor of Balkh province in Northern Afghanistan says:
“Karzai is a thief of people’s votes. Democracy has been buried in Afghanistan. He’s not a lawful president,” Mr. Atta said in an interview in his vast rococo-styled office, as turbaned supplicants lined up to petition for his help in resolving court cases and disputes with local authorities.
At the moment, the mainstays of the Karzai government in Afghanistan are the non-Pashto areas of Afghanistan where there’s a great deal of popular hostility to the Taliban. But its precisely for that reason that Karzai, a Pashto, was picked to lead Afghanistan. The view was that such a person would have the most legitimacy in the most contested areas. The risk with what’s now happened in the election is that Karzai will either start to lose his Tajik support and his government will become untenable, or else that to prevent that from happening the government will need to shift all the way in the direction of him basically being a frontman for a Fahim/Dostum Tajik/Uzbek warlord coalition that has no support in Pashto areas.
8 Responses to “What a Legitimacy Problem Looks Like”
Register
RSSLogin
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog RollAbout Matt YglesiasContact Me
Donate
November 7th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Delaware beats Switzerland as most secretive financial center
http://joshfulton.blogspot.com/2009/11/delaware-beats-switzerland-as-most.html
November 7th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
What about Badback Oshama, native of any one of several possible African countries? Is this not a legitimacy problem?
November 7th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Re Matthew’s comment “But its precisely for that reason that Karzai, a Pashto, was picked to lead Afghanistan. The view was that such a person would have the most legitimacy in the most contested areas.”
How can a person picked by armed occupier US have any legitimacy? Especially when he acts like an inmate just out of prison after serving nine for armed robbery?
November 7th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
“We must have a second round,” … “If we don’t do that, we’ll be insulting democracy”–Hamid Karzai
Enough said…democracy insulted.
November 7th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
If we were to bribe not only the Tajiks but also the Pashtuns with only a percentage of the funds we now are expending on the military, we could not only gain all the Afghan support we or anyone else could ever need or want but we also could build a bullet train linking Butte, Montana, to Boise, Idaho and provide the 7th congressional district of North Carolina with enormous pork projects.
November 7th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Last I heard the Stalingradistan war is costing us $65 billion a year. Oh yeah, I just can’t imagine better ways to spend that money, what with 10% (realistically more like 18%) unemployed. This fucking administration is just pig stupid.
November 7th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Feudalism — it’s decentralized, it’s cheap, and it has a proven track record in medieval places. It also tends to raise the cultural tone of a place, in contrast to democracy.
November 8th, 2009 at 2:15 am
Lots of people said (still say) pretty much the same thing on how Bush got his first term.
If the most recent election achieved a platonic ideal, Karzai’s election is the most likely probability. The 40% Pashtun population votes overwhelming for him, and overcomes Adbullah’s more narrow majorities in urban areas and northern ethnicities.
The latest national elections are a facet but ultimately a sideshow in the Afghanistan goverenance and development problems. Like Tip O’neil said, all politics are local – most people are far more effected by the issues of their village, district, and province. (in that order)