You'd have to see it

Try to imagine the following picture. Forty some-odd Americans packed into a wooden shack which has been turned into a bar. In the midst of cigarette smoke a group of optimists try to continue a game of darts which started before the swelling of the crowd. Around the room, there are retired policemen engaged in supposedly serious conversations which compare the quality of law-enforcement in their one-horse towns to that in Afghanistan. Behind the bar, a middle-aged ex-Marine Gunnery Sergeant defends his appreciation for the Boss against the occasionaly vehement protests of those patrons who consider Bruce Springsteen a traitor for speaking out against the war. In a corner, a young man desperately tries to woo one of the two women in the room, not out of real attraction so much as loneliness and desperation. In the backround, two Afghan Generals bum smokes and talk haltingly with the assistance of interpreters. One drinks a beer, though he is Muslim and this is Ramadan. There is a tension between the two main groups of this demographic. Some are ex-soldiers, who found their way here because of boredom and a desire to be in "the shit" one more time. Others are ex-cops who didn't want to live on their pensions. There are several small groups, each putting forth its own emotional vibration which can be seen and felt at a distance. One is anxious, serious. Another is gregarious. There is, among everyone, the sense of holding the outside world at bay for one more hour. In this respect it is no different from any bar I've ever entered. The walls hold in and protect a semblance of life at home. Your's truly stands at the end of the bar, listening to the conversations around him. Today in Kabul, three UN employees were kidnapped in broad daylight. None of us expect them to live.

The elections have come and gone in Kabul. I think most of you saw something about it on the news, probably in relation to the type of ink used to mark those who've voted. Everyone seems to be calling this a successful experiment in enforced democracy. Its a little more complex than people are letting on, the incidents of interference somewhat more widespread and violent than one might gather from CNN. People are starting to speak about the rule of law and its progress here. Eighty percent of all the heroin in the world comes from Afghan poppy, even though it is illegal to cultivate it. Several of the major candidates for president and many members of regional government are directly involved in the manufacture and transportation of opium. Some regional governors have private armies with helicopter gunships, tanks, and thousands of soldiers. The democratic process must go forward here. The fact that the constitution its based on Sharia law frankly scares me, but at least it reflects public opinion. I'm enough of a chauvinist to believe that popular consent is a necessary foundation for just government. But I don't think anyone will say that the rule of law has superseded the rule of the gun just because the elections have been carried out without massive, widespread violence. Voting is one thing, but there are many changes which will have to be made here if the central government is to assert its authority over the whole country. If effective government requires the monopolization of force and the means of projecting it, then the government in Kabul is still ineffective. But they are trying, and I think thats what really matters this year. This country is still in the hands of regional warlords. The U.S. government is proceeding with a damaging and ineffectual program to halt poppy production. The L.A. Times publishes articles which make an unfavorable comparison between U.S. Contractors in Kabul (your's truly) to the Russians. These are all things which stand in the way of progress here, but it is still being made. One day, given enough effort and attention, the rule of law will be established here.