Afghanistan is unfortunately again going through a new, yet dangerous wave of political instability. President Ghani’s five-year term in office has expired, dispute over the election of the new speaker for Wolesi Jirga continues, economic woes stand at all-time high, and security situation in the country is deteriorating day by day. Insecurity in capital Kabul besides provinces is as rampant as no one and nowhere is safe. Terrorist and criminal incidents are at peak. People are not scared of laws and the criminal networks freely commit armed robberies, assassinations and other crimes in broad daylight in Kabul and other parts of the country.
The government’s behavior shows that it lacks the political will to conduct the presidential election even on the date lastly announced. The problem is that the government leadership is neither able to contain the situation nor is ready to transfer the power to the new administration through a timely election. Presently, government leaders are more obsessed with re-election, though the regime’s survival can face serious challenges if the delicacy of the situation is overlooked, which will culminate in circumstances where no presidential runners, including President Ghani, will have the chance to stay in power.
On the one hand, President Ghani’s legitimacy, which had already been eroded due to the illegitimate government structure in the name of the National Unity Government, is under question with the expiry of his tenure, and on the other hand the National Assembly is yet to complete its administrative board due to controversy over the election of a new speaker to oversee the performance of the government. Heads of government institutions also don’t feel responsibility which in turn leads to further deterioration of the situation. The presidential contenders are seeking to depose President Ghani before the election because they fear it will be impossible to have a transparent and fair election if he stays in office. If they stay determined in achieving the demand and manage to hold massive protest demonstrations as they have promised, the situation can get ever worse.
President Ghani who is yet to leave office needs to prevent the downfall of the regime. Now that he has stayed in power out of his own volition, he should save the regime from collapsing at least until the election if he cannot do anything else. Furthermore, he must try his best to pave the way for a transparent election so that Afghanistan gets a government that will have no legitimacy problem and be capable of steering the country towards prosperity.
Political instability in country at peak
