Robert Kaplan's topic, whether democracy is always the right cure in something called "failed states."
Certainly there's a logic behind Kaplan's arguments against involving undeveloped countries to quickly with the mechanisms of democratic government...
But what's more important is that the power brokers in the country must be willing to come together to form the foundation upon which the future of the country will be based, such as a national constitution and the structure of the governmental checks and balances between various elements within that government. Offering the current leaders, no matter how bombastic and nasty they actually are, a place in history as a founder of their reconstituted nation (in exchange for abiding by what is created), is very important to creating the basis for government. And those who don't want to willingly participate, have to be either neutralized, or accomodated in other ways.
And in the case of Afghanistan, where they aren't necessarily living on a frontier, or expanding their territory as the US did in its early history, forced disarmament of tribal militias is probably required to some extent, or converting soldiers into some semblance of a police force (with national supervision).
But there's no doubt about it, it will take a long time, especially when one tribe may feel they are more "afghani" than their rival tribes.
And it's why establishing peace and democracy in the nation will require a heavy committment in peace keeping forces.
Hawk |
