Well, we’re in the middle of a journal, a chronicle: notes from the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, held in the glorious Alpine village of Davos, Switzerland. The previous installments of this journal can be found as follows: I, II, III, IV, and V.
Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, joins a group of journalists for coffee. He is wearing neither hat nor cape. It is the first time I have seen him capeless. When he greets you, shaking your hand, he is warm and direct. And one of the journos makes a comment: “Your country is so full of troubles, and your job is so difficult. Yet you seem so calm and happy — almost like a Buddhist monk or something.”
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Karzai smiles and says, “Well, there’s a lot of good in Buddhism.” (I paraphrase.) He goes on to say that Afghan people, as a rule, are happy. If we go there, we will see. Yes, there are horrific problems — but there are wedding celebrations, birthday celebrations, many happy events. For the past six years, says Karzai, “there has been more happiness for us than sorrow.” How’s that?
Afghanistan was reborn. Our flag is now flying all over the world. Six years ago, we had to be represented by Pakistan, in international forums. Think what we have now: a constitution, a parliament, a government, a free press — “
very critical,” Karzai says, with a friendly growl. Once again, Afghanistan is the home of all Afghans. Before, they were at each other’s throats; now they sit in parliament together, debating bills and so on.
Women have been returned to communal and civic life. There are 5.8 million kids in school, and 40 percent of them are girls. There are more universities, and, of course, more university students: about 50,000 of them. Some 1,500 of those go abroad, mainly to India. Medical facilities are spreading throughout the country, meaning that people don’t have to travel as far for such help. Electrification is proceeding apace. Afghanistan has rebuilt its army, and is rebuilding its police.
And the people are conducting elections — “with full vigor and zeal,” says Karzai.
But best of all? Karzai says something I have heard him say before. It obviously means a lot to him. Six years ago, Afghanistan was one of the worst countries in the world for childhood and maternal mortality. Not any longer.
So, those are the good things — the fruits of the liberation wrought by the United States and its allies.
And the sorrow, the failures? An inability to tackle terrorism; an inability — thus far — to tackle drugs. Those are the twin problems. And then Karzai says something striking: If Afghanistan can overcome those problems, “we will be a normal poor country, trying to get a little better.”
A normal poor country: That is a striking aspiration.
Karzai discourses a bit on the Taliban. Such people in their “native form” are not extremists, he says; they are orthodox. A
talib is simply a student in a religious school — someone who wants to become a priest, or a learned man in matters religious. A
talib is not necessarily a radical. Thousands of them are “common citizens like the rest of us,” who only want to make a decent living and have a good life. Thousands of others are “used” — by political malefactors.
A British journalist asks a question: “America’s power is waning, and no one is in charge in America. So where does that leave you?”
Karzai is somewhat nonplussed by this question (as you might imagine). He says that, without America, Afghanistan would still be occupied by al-Qaeda and other extremists. The Americans are “helping us,” says Karzai, with billions of dollars, and with troops. And the country is sending more troops. Karzai says that the “bulwark” in the effort for Afghanistan is America. And “its power is not diminished.”
