Undaunted determination

No rose is without a thorn.

— Afghan proverb.

Leading Afghanistan requires world-class optimism. The world’s fourth-poorest nation with the highest infant mortality rate, ranks first in opium and heroin production and has endured three decades of turmoil.

When I quoted the above proverb, a longtime friend of President Hamid Karzai said: “The Afghan rose has countless thorns. Karzai is the only man who could maintain his positive spirit and determination in this complicated situation.”

Clearly complicated, the Afghan struggle is also promising. A senior diplomat resident in Kabul considers last October’s presidential elections “one of the most magnificent political events of the year, and it happened in this star-crossed, troubled country.” Officials estimated 1 million Afghans would register and half of them vote. In fact, more than 8 million, 40 percent of them female, voted with no significant disturbance.

In an exclusive interview, President Karzai looked forward to parliamentary elections in September. “They will be the final step in the [2002] Bonn agreement. We have successfully held the Emergency and Constitutional Loya Jurgas. The presidential election last October was orderly and peaceful, and now we will elect our Parliament.”

Mr. Karzai considers recent terrorist incidents “acts of desperation.” He believes remnant Taliban hard-liners and a few unregenerated warlords are fighting “because they see themselves continuing to lose power. An increase in terrorist activities is to be expected the closer we get to the … elections. The former foreign minister is one of several ex-Taliban officials running, among 6,000 candidates for provincial and national assemblies. I’m having a luncheon this week for 16 of them.”

Longtime observers marvel at the determination by virtually all segments of society to preserve the nation. A mix of Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims, four major ethnic groups and numerous smaller religious and tribal communities, Afghanistan has been occupied by Greeks, Mongols, Persians, British, Russians and now Americans.

The American presence, unlike the others, is widely supported. “We welcome them,” Mr. Karzai exclaimed. “The Americans freed our country from the terrible Taliban dictatorship, and now they are working with us to rebuild our society.”

Recently returned from Washington, Afghanistan’s president was characteristically upbeat. “The third day of my trip, The Washington Times ran a color photo of me with [U.S.] troops on the front page with the caption ’Enduring ties.’ I liked that; it represents just what we have wanted to achieve in our relationship with the United States.”

Taliban regime supporters “are against our strategic partnership with the United States,” noted Mr. Karzai, who sees the alliance as crucial to Afghanistan’s continued stability and reconstruction. He quoted from the agreement just signed with President Bush: “U.S. and coalition forces are to continue to have the freedom of action to conduct appropriate military actions, based on pre-agreed procedures.”

Outgoing CENTCOM chief of staff Col. David Lamm, veteran of highly challenging situations from Panama to Iraq, considers the Afghan National Army’s development exemplary: “They’ve had a rigorous training program, and are handling their missions, including combat, very capably.” Coalition mentors sprinkled through ANA units, mentor “but do not lead” the Afghans, according to Col. Lamm.

The deeply ingrained narcotics trade is unquestionably the country’s most difficult challenge, the most painful thorn on the Afghan rose. Charge d’Affaires Dick Christiansen, senior U.S. diplomat in Kabul, considers narcotics “the dark cloud on the horizon, which we must get right.”

Poppy cultivation represents an estimated 60 percent of Afghanistan’s gross domestic product, employing thousands of small plot farmers nationwide.

Reduced and refined, the poppies provide 90 percent of world heroin production. Eradication is critically important. But this dominant segment of Afghanistan’s economy, affecting a huge percentage of its people, must be replaced.

High value crops, including olive, almond and pomegranate trees destroyed during decades of struggle, take years to become productive; while fast-growing crops like wheat produce less cash than needed to satisfy basic needs. Alternative livelihood programs for poppy growers are being launched to supplement sharply lower wheat income, 25 percent the yield of poppy resin.

In Nangarhar, one of five leading poppy producing provinces, a program initiated by the Provincial Reconstruction Team, a unique U.S. multi-agency aid effort, has filled 12,000 jobs in three months, and is slated to create 50,000 jobs annually. Road construction, medical clinic and school renovation, agricultural canal cleaning and reconstruction. Such work provides more than enough to support workers’ families, particularly added to wheat farming income.

Hamid Karzai considers “alternative livelihoods the biggest factor in the anti-narcotics fight. Our people have hope for the future, with schools, roads and water supplies functioning. Alternative livelihoods will finish the process.”

Support for eliminating Afghanistan’s narcotics trade is international. Recently, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, whose nation faces many of Afghanistan’s challenges was in touch. “The president called me recently and offered full support in our fight against narcotics. It was very gratifying to have his backing.”

President Karzai is pleased with poppy eradication efforts. “Total national production last year was down 30 percent from 2003. I would be very happy if … the United Nations [reported] another 30 percent reduction — even 20 percent. If we can do that for five years, we will be rid of the poppy problem.”

Afghanistan is one place where U.S. force and generosity combine with fierce, resolute will. And it works. The poppy plague is yet be curbed. When this is done, the Afghan rose will be rid of its most dangerous thorn.

John R. Thomson, a longtime observer of Near Eastern politics and culture, interviewed Hamid Karzai at the Presidential Palace in Kabul.