Afghanistan Parliament

So the NYTimes editors agree with me that yesterday's swearing in of Hamid Karzai was a great day, but they make a ciritical point that I overlooked: Afganistan has a President but no parliament. They need both, and based on the citizens bravery and forward looking actions to even vote (women voted, everyone faced terrorist threats), we absolutely have to give it to them. Having a broad reaching parliament would go a long way to reducing the powerful warlords all over the country.

The (tenuous) success in staging the Presidential election does not excuse our failures in abandoning where the real terrorists lived and continue to live. We have to now use so far ignored diplomacy and so far unseen dedication to the cause to do our best to ensure that a parliament will form by 2006.

Read it here