Afghanistan’s government wants to pass a law that would not allow warlords to run for public office, said the country’s justice minister on Sunday. Hamid Karzai said keeping the warlords out will pave the way for democracy in Afghanistan.
I agree, keeping them out of Afghanistan will work wonders for the economy too. Oh, that’s not what he meant.
Those affected by the law would be certain provincial governors and national politicians, including the current defence minister. "Nobody with armed forces behind them can continue their political activities," Justice Minister Abdulrahim Karimi told a new conference Sunday. The law, which was approved Saturday, requires that a political party have 700 members before it can register. Should the law pass observers question how a government that holds little power outside the capital will be able to enforce it across the country.
That’s easy. They won’t.
General elections are expected to be held in Afghanistan next June. The current government came in power in 2001 with the support of the Northern Alliance, a grouping of warlords.
| We have to assume this measure is aimed more at the future than at the present, since it's not enforceable now. I'm not sure I agree with it, if only on the grounds of fairness. It was the warlords — working together as the Northern Alliance — who threw out the Talibs, not the people who don't have any gunnies to call upon. (I know: life isn't fair. What else is new and unusual?) I'd like to see the Northern Alliance parties cooperating as a solid bloc to protect their own rights against the Pashtuns, who're only the largest single minority in a country of minorities. That doesn't have to be militarily. I can also see the good sense of not allowing people who maintain large numbers of gunnies hold office on the theory that the gunnies would intimidate people into voting for them. |
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