Despite all the challenges, Afghanistan has had at least one major achievement over almost last two decades — the peaceful transfer of power. All Afghan sides, apart from the Taliban, have come to the conclusion that power indeed lies in the hands of the people, and they should elect their leaders themselves. This is, without a shadow of a doubt, a huge accomplishment for a country like Afghanistan whose modern, turbulent history is unfortunately marred by and riddled with bloodshed and massacres in power seizures. Some leaders of modern history have not even spared their family members.
Yesterday was another special day for Afghanistan. The registration of hopefuls for the 2019 presidential election completed. It is a positive development. Among the candidates, who registered themselves to enter the presidential race, was also Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the leader of Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan (HIA) who went to the Independent Election Commission along with his two running mates and officially nominated himself for presidency.
Prior to the peace deal with Afghan government, Hekmatyar and his loyalists viewed weapon as the best passport to takeover of power, but he has now realized the fact that political struggle should be peaceful and democratic. His reintegration with the mainstream politics is a perfect model for the government and insurgents. Those who still believe in use of force and violence to seize power and underestimate the power of people should realize the new realities and changes in Afghan society. Afghan people now understand that they have the real power, and they, through election, should transfer the power to leaders that can be counted on and aim to work for the prosperity of people rather than for their self-interests. Political leaders who consider government power a responsibility than a privilege, and themselves the real servants of people not the rulers.
Hopefully, the Taliban, as the main and biggest insurgent group, also accept the ground realities and resort to peaceful political struggle by joining the peace process and respecting the will of people. If they think that people uphold their strategies and ideology, they should come forward and give people the opportunely to freely choose their leaders. Doubtlessly, there are a lot of concerns and questions about the transparency of election, but they should not be used as a pretext to reject the democratic process. The Taliban should also join hands with other political groups and pave the way for transparent, fair and inclusive election. Only by then, it will be determined who the real representatives of people are.