Do We Have Democracy in Afghanistan?

[DeeVa]

Salamoona

Do we have the real democracy in afghanistan and the rest of the world?
what is good about democracy and what is bad about. ??

share ur thoughts here with us

[IamDZJ]

**** democracy

o yeah it's democracy alright. unfortunately only limited to some. in the sense that everyone does as they please with out worrying of the effects that the consequences might have on others. irresponsibility does not equal to democracy.
i once read somewhere that the term democracy was nothing but a bone treat thrown in the face of poverty to distract it from what is actually happening behind the scene.

[Haris]

We have had a form of democracy for hundreds of years well before America even existed.

The loya jirga was used to select Mirwaiz Neeka just over 300 years ago, Ahmad Shah Baba 264 years ago and even the dog Karzai in 2002 among various others.

That is Afghan democracy.

If you mean Western-style representative democracy then no. They have tried to impose it on the Afghans suddenly and as a result it does not work because:

a) The Afghans rarely turn out to vote - Even when they are not threatened by the Taliban. Electoral turnout is low (for various reasons) - no matter what the West would love to think.

b) It is being imposed on them in a short period of time. They are not used to representative democracy so it will not be effective.

c) What is the point in voting if you know Karzai is going to win anyway? He obviously rigged the last election yet the Western powers did nothing. He enjoys much support from the West and his (and his family's) corruption is allowed to happen as long as he remains loyal to his Western masters.


If you study the electoral turn-out figures for the recent 2009 presidential election and the 2010 parliament election you can see that turn-out was extremely low - almost to the point of it being useless. Electoral turn-out of 60%+ is needed for a representative democracy to be legitimate and function properly with the mandate of the people. This rarely happens in Afghanistan since we are lazy. In fact my grandmother only voted for Karzai in 2004 because she heard the other candidate was a Tajik lol!
It just won't work.



We have our own ancient form of democracy which is native to the Pashtuns. It is a part of our culture, traditions and is convention in Afghanistan. It is used for local matters and national matters.

[Amir al Ghaznavi]

Afghanistan doesnt need democracy. Democracy is used by Western nations to infiltrate developing nations, corrupt its elites and create instability within the nation

Developing nations have their own path to progress, and many times this requires a stable govt to build national institutions. A developing nation cannot afford to have govts change every few years

Right now the last thing Afghanistan needs is a democracy. It needs one govt, one rule, the establishment of a harsh rule of law, and rebuilding of a national identity and institutions.

This needs to be in place for 15-20 years before we can transition to multi party democracy.

Cant be having a god damn democracy with a 20% literacy rate

[khushal]

You could rule with a democracy or with an iron fist, you can never succeed unless you have an economy that can support its people. Because Afghanistan is landlocked, it will sadly remain dependent on foreign aid. The country that will influence it the most is the country that will have the most trade with it.

No one cares about democracy if there is no food on the table or derstahan in Afghanistans case.

[NokiaWnW]

No, we have despotism. In the past we had rulers who ruled that way and all of them died and those who supported them. Karzai is the next man who will share the same fate as his fore-runners. We need democracy as soon as possible, having a state where everyone, men and women are equal, cultures and languages and people can live with eachother without discrimination.

[randolph85]

any form of government is useless if it is not run by intelligent and sincere people, whether it be a democracy or an islamic emirate.

china has done pretty well without democracy. high literacy rates have not translated into successful economies, as seen in the former soviet "istans." the measuring stick of what makes a successful nation is not a one size fits all kind of thing.

embracing democracy in a place like gaza resulted in the blockaide of the damn place, for instance.