[Afghanistan] Afghan president under fire over poverty

from The Seattle Post Intelligencer

By FISNIK ABRASHI
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

The bloodiest fighting since the Taliban's fall, abject failure to control the drug trade and gaping disparities between rich and poor are shaking the credibility of Afghanistan's U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai.

Less than two years after Karzai sealed a strong majority vote in the war-battered nation's first post-Taliban election, the popularity of his administration has dwindled amid rising anger over poverty and corruption.

"Security is the big concern for the people," said Muhammad Qasim Akhgar, an Afghan political analyst. "Even inside Kabul city, the people are not feeling safe anymore."

More than 1,600 people, mostly militants, have died nationwide in violent incidents since the start of May, mostly in the south, according to a tally compiled by The Associated Press based on reports from Afghan officials, the U.S. military and NATO.

In violence reported Wednesday, NATO and Afghan forces killed 36 suspected Taliban militants in the volatile south, while roadside bombs killed three civilians.

NATO also shot to death an Afghan youth in the aftermath of a suicide bombing in Kandahar that killed a Canadian soldier and wounded three other people Tuesday.

Western officials say the surge in violence is largely due to international forces taking the battle to Taliban-led fighters who had gradually extended their sway across the poorly policed south.

The failure of the government and its international supporters to stabilize the Taliban heartland since the hard-line regime fell in late 2001 has severely impeded efforts to develop the area, shaking faith in Karzai's ability to bring change.

When Karzai was first chosen to lead the administration, initially as interim leader in late 2001, he was "very good ... he was accepted by all the people," said Abdul Hamid Mubares, a former deputy minister for information and culture.

Now his government is weak and unable to find solutions to people's problems, and "you see this unhappiness in the assembly and the bazaar," Mubares said.

Discontent over the pace of development is not restricted to the south.

While a small elite has enjoyed unprecedented prosperity, more than half of Afghanistan's 31 million people live below the poverty line and 40 percent are unemployed. Electricity and water shortages are acute. Illicit crops like opium represent more than a third of gross domestic product.

In a sign of continued American backing for the Afghan leader, President Bush called him on Tuesday to assure him "of the continued and long-term U.S. support for Afghanistan" and invited him to Washington. Karzai last visited in May 2005.

Afghanistan relies on foreign aid, about $10.5 billion of which was pledged at a February donor conference in London. Few would deny some progress has been made since the austere days of the Taliban, notably in access to education and health care - but social services remain sparse and infrastructure poor.

"People want jobs and security, but the government cannot provide them with either," said Akhgar. "People also complain about corruption and government does nothing about it."

Karzai's chief of staff, Jawed Ludin, responded that the government had "done pretty well given our resources" in the past five years. He described the rebuilding of Afghanistan after 30 years of war as a generational project.

"We have obviously not delivered on one thing and that is security ... especially in the south, but it is very clear that this is due to a host of factors, most of them out of President Karzai's control. They have emanated from outside this country," Ludin told The Associated Press. He apparently was referring to neighboring Pakistan, where some militants are believed to be based.

"The international community could have done more to stop this," he said.

Some of Karzai's official appointments also have come under criticism, including an attempt to renew the term of a hard-line Supreme Court judge who was then rejected by Parliament and the installation of a new Kabul police chief accused of ties to organized crime.

Western diplomats have said Karzai was reluctant to sack any officials, regardless of how corrupt they were, preferring to transfer them to avoid confrontation.

The president has publicly acknowledged the corrosive effects of Afghanistan's world-leading drugs trade, set to be fueled further this year by a record opium crop.

But despite the mounting criticism, no apparent challenger has emerged to face Karzai, whose five-year term expires in late 2009.