The case for systemic political reform

The manipulated presidential election of August 2009 has provided new rationale for increasingly negative assessments of the situation in Afghanistan. The Afghans' growing mistrust of the authorities and the administration looms, alongside the insurgents' activities, as the country's gravest problem. The sources of the state's illness include not only the dismal economy and a lack of security, but a dysfunctional political system divorced from the country's social realities. The system breeds corruption and conflicts and obstructs the discharge of the state's fundamental functions. It follows that much of Afghanistan's instability has internal political roots which, unless removed, will render enduring improvement of the country's situation impossible.

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