Afghan ambassador reports on country's progress
Patrice R. Holderbach
The Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
01/24/2004
"Afghanistan's ambassador said their constitution
is the "most progressive charter in the region," setting
the stage for the country to become a model for other emerging
democracies."
January 24, 2004 (SHFW) Washington - On paper,
Afghanistan's constitution is the "most progressive charter
in the region," setting the stage for the country to become
a model for other emerging democracies, Afghanistan's ambassador
to the United States said Thursday.
But, challenges linger in part because narcotics
traffickers, warlords and corrupt officials have exploited the
resources of a people who for 50 years had not been allowed
to choose its own leadership or system of government, he and
other experts said at a briefing sponsored by the United States
Institute of Peace.
The ambassador, Said Tayeb Jawad, said Afghan
citizens and U.S. coalition forces have tried over the past
two years of drafting the document to "create a society
based on social justice" that protects human dignity.
Barnett Rubin, director of studies and senior
fellow at New York University’s Center for International
Cooperation, said Americans should be concerned about the problems.
Once Afghanistan's people are secured, he said, this security
can be shared with the rest of the world.
Rubin described his observations about the country's
transition into democracy.
"All the most important issues, including
sensitive ethnic and religious issues, were openly and explicitly
discussed," said Rubin, who served in 2001 as special adviser
to the United Nations special representative for Afghanistan.
During this time, the Bonn Agreement was passed,
which allowed the drafting of a new constitution to begin by
more than 500 Afghans who made up the loya jirga, or grand assembly.
"To some extent, the outcome is a genuine
representation of where the balance falls today in Afghanistan,"
Rubin said.
The constitution modifies many aspects of Afghan
society. It recognizes a language as being official in an area
where the majority speaks it and secures women's rights. But
in the courts, Afghanistan struggles with balancing "judicial
independence with judicial non-accountability," Rubin said.
As a result, "the process of making a nation
has gotten ahead of the process of making a state," he
said.
Laurel Miller, who served in the U.S. State Department
as deputy to the ambassador-at-large for war crime issues, said
the chief justice of Afghanistan's supreme court has resisted
any change to the justice sector. She described the institution
as "corrupt" because of low salaries and poor legal
training.
To begin reforms, Miller, now with the institute's
Rule of Law Program, suggested judicial monitoring and long-term
training to prepare the next generation of law practitioners.
Additional challenges remain for the new government.
For example, farmers can make 10 times more money by producing
opium than any other product, said Bob Perito, special adviser
to the institute's Rule of Law Program. A U.N. report ranked
Afghanistan as the No. 1 opium producer in the world, he said.
Miller said coalition forces have been known to
discover opium in vehicles at checkpoints, but ignore it.
"This reinforces the belief, on the part
of some Afghans, that the U.S. endorses some of these warlords,"
Miller said.
With the help of U.S. officials, a centralized
Afghan government can help curb a drug trade that has been linked
to terrorism, Miller said. Training centers are planned to assist
officials in the detection and elimination of drug trafficking,
but they are not yet constructed, he added.
He said the crop production is "illegal and
immoral in the view of Islam" and that Afghan officials
believe they can stop it.
About 140 people attended the event from embassies,
humanitarian organizations, universities and government offices,
said Suzanne Wopperer, an organizer. The institute's Current
Issues Briefing series will continue Feb. 18 with a discussion
on Afghanistan’s elections, she said.
