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i doubt the problem with #Afghanistan’s government is that it is centralistic. it is dysfunctional (in serving the people) because it is self-centred. proof is the wrangling again over cabinet, governors, new peace council – a reflection of 2014-19. 2/10
@jmurtazashvili @BRR
@jmurtazashvili @BRR
2/10 this is not about an *abstract* government. A centralised government could function if it were transparent, responsible, democratic – and take care of all afghans, including ‘minorities’. a decentralised government could also be corrupt and dysfunctional. 3/10
3/10 the reason post-2001 governments are undemocratic is because that there was never militia disarmament. only this could have helped turning the tanzims into democratically functioning entities, open up a democratic space and have genuine democratic political competition. 4/10
4/10 but presidential elections have been manipulated in favour of the west’s favourite from the beginning, and militia-backed forces were enabled to win the first parliamentary elections. that closed the democratic space. elections also were increasingly monetised. 5/10
5/10 alternatives: civil society was not allowed to be ‘political’ (on its own); parties banned from parliament. by now, much of civil society has been coopted, factionalised/ethnicised (see the problem finding independent election commissioners). dem. parties were dried out 6/10
6/10 ‘customary authorities’? shuras, incl. CDCs, have often been taken over by local armed actors, still functioning tribal shuras undermined by karzai, the US military and agencies building ‘their own’ shuras and the monetised ‘arbaki’ programme. 7/10
7/10 on decentralisation: the leaders pushing for it are often undemocratic, too, and have proven earlier that they are unable to run the country (by this making the taleban strong). They want parts of the country fully, as they cannot have the entire country fully. 8/10
8/10 a genuinely and visibly democratic government also could organise a discussion about meaningful (non-warlord-driven) decentralisation or not. 9/10
9/10 the problems with the ANP was not its ‘soviet-inspired legacy’ but later mistakes such as the one-to-one transfer of militia units into it. THIS structure was never broken. the US and then karzai actively undermined police reform, in order to protect their allies 10/10
10/10 Don’t defund #Afghanistan but those who have stolen funds and put them abroad over the past almost 20 years. there needs to be a push for gradual re-democratisation. that won’t work without democrats in the country, democratic action from outside and political stamina.
