Peter Bergen, a well-repected international affairs analyst has a good piece in The New York Times on the reconstruction of Afghanistan. He notes that while the country is facing problems, it’s not the hellhole it’s been made out to be. If anything, President Hamid Karzai has done a good job of increasing the power of the central government and preparing for the elections in early October.
What has been going on in Afghanistan has been largely quiet compared to the situation in Iraq, but it is also the story of a country ravaged by decades of war with almost no infrastructure slowly moving towards democracy and stability. The Taliban have been beaten back time and time again by the New Afghan Army, and Karzai is slowly extending his influence outside Kabul.
Afghanistan, like Iraq, is a project that will take decades and will require the Afghan people to make key decisions on the road to democracy. However, as Bergen points out, there is much to be hopeful about in Afghanistan’s future.
