Afghanistan is demonstrating that even one of the world's poorest and least secure countries can conduct credible elections. Last fall, Hamid Karzai became the country's first democratically elected president. Now he has been joined by an elected parliament, in many ways an even more difficult feat because district campaigns had to be waged in even the least secure areas.
The nearly complete voting results, announced last weekend, show a mixed picture. A large number of seats were captured by some of the country's most fearsome warlords or their followers, including four former Taliban commanders, several notorious Islamist mujahedeen leaders and a number of drug lords. Another sizable chunk went to religious fundamentalists. Taken together, these groups will constitute almost half of the new parliament, although most candidates ran as individuals, not as part of national party slates, and there is no reason to think that these diverse elements will promote a common policy agenda.
But many voters also looked to a different, more hopeful kind of future. Women did remarkably well as candidates, winning 68 of the parliament's 249 seats. And the men who were elected include significant numbers of political independents and educated professionals.
Of course, holding elections is only one component of successful nation-building. At least as important is the challenge of reviving the war-shattered economy and generating enough development to reduce desperate poverty, resettle returning refugees and provide the alternative jobs that will lure people away from private militias or opium farms. Afghanistan cannot afford to do these things itself. But relatively modest amounts of additional American assistance could go a long way.
The less than $1 billion that the Bush administration is seeking for Afghan civil development next year is too little to accomplish even the most urgently needed tasks. That amount should be more than doubled, and increased still further as more of the country becomes secure and open to agriculture and rural development. Most of the additional aid needs to go into constructing an adequate rural road network, providing electric power to the 94 percent of Afghans still without it and giving farmers the seasonal credit, technical assistance and market outlets needed to break the economic grip of the opium traffickers and to promote alternative crops and livelihoods. Some should also be directed into strengthening local government.
Americans can be proud of their role in helping to drive the tyrannical and hateful Taliban from power and giving Afghans the chance to make a new democratic start. But those gains are fragile. An additional $1 billion to $2 billion a year, invested wisely, could substantially reinforce the initial progress.