There is more than infamy to the date December 7. Today, history added a glorious achievement born from the war against Islamic terror.
For 30 years coups, assassinations and invasions were the usual means of power transfer in Kabul. But yesterday Hamid Karzai broke with bloody tradition and assumed office with a simple formula of words.
Laying a hand on the Qur’an, Afghanistan’s first democratic president swore his allegiance inside the former royal palace that was once the scene of thunderous gunbattles but has since been renovated to welcome 600 guests.
“We have left a hard and dark past behind us, and today we are opening a new chapter in our history,” said the blue-blooded Pashtun leader, who has led his country since the US-led invasion in 2001.
But the perils of power reverberated silently during the short, simple ceremony, which opened with a reading of Islamic verses and songs from a children’s choir.
Beside Mr Karzai sat Zahir Shah, the king who went into exile in 1973 after being deposed by his cousin. Outside the palace, US, Afghan and European soldiers buckled a tight security perimeter designed to deter Taliban attacks.
Several streets were sealed off, surveillance helicopters droned overhead, and German peacekeepers patrolled on foot.
But yet again the fundamentalists failed to deliver on threats of violence and mayhem, lending credence to suspicions that their insurgency has lost its potency.
That triumph will have pleased the US vice-president, Dick Cheney, who flew in with the defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, to salute the Bush administration’s pet foreign policy success.
Earlier, Mr Cheney rallied American troops in a speech at Bagram airbase, north of Kabul. “Freedom still has enemies here in Afghanistan, and you are here to make those enemies miserable,” he said.
There is a long way to go to achieve enduring success in Afghanistan. Karzai is on record as desiring to end the power of both the local militias and the opium trade. In this endeavor, he will acquire a great many enemies, which only compounds the peril of radical Islamists and terrorists.
Despite this, the swearing in of a democratically elected president is a testament to the hopes of the Afghan people and it should be celebrated. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer published an opinion piece doing that to a degree, along with a good look at what lies ahead.
But an election is just one step. Now the country must move forward on the real difficult tests, such as creating a democratic identity and sustainable economy.
It’s critical that the world (and especially the United States) present Karzai the resources to combat the Taliban and terrorist elements and to limit the drug trade. This is a tall order. The United Nations reports Afghanistan contributes 87 percent of the world’s opium and heroin.
Democracy is an experiment; Afghanistan’s test is about to begin.
If the Afghan people fail the test, it absolutely must not be from the neglect or half-measures of the U.S. and its allies.