I heard it once said that Hitchens' writings would still be read a
century from now. Having read only a smattering of his essays along with the
vastly over-rated "god Is not Great", I do not feel qualified either to
support or refute this claim. Nevertheless, if it is
truly the case that he will be regarded as relevant a century from now,
it's sure as shit won't be on the basis of articles like the one posted
this week.
I don't feel motivated enough to pick apart such a poorly
argued screed about the problems facing Afghanistan - problems made
even more daunting, I might add, with the senseless slaughter of five
British soldiers recently - on a point by point basis. It suffices to
point out that his focus of condemnation, namely the U.N., proves only too clearly how
disingenuous and politicized his writings truly are.
Here's what any level-headed person should ask themselves concerning the role of elections in a non-state entity like Afghanistan:
1. Does
it really matter whether or not the elections were "fair" when a
sizable part of the country is under Taliban control? Moreover, even
if the non-Taliban controlled areas did have fair elections, does its very incompleteness not speak volumes of the insurmountable disunity of the country itself?
2. Even
if the current, despotic Karzai regime somehow mustered enough
integrity to carry out fair elections, would this change its
fundamentally corrupt nature in any way.
3. Finally,
would a fair transfer of power - an extreme unliklihood, to be sure -
under the aegis of fair elections be transformative given the severe
institutional limitations of the state apparatus itself.
I
mean seriously folks, rigged elections occur in relatively cohesive
countries like Russia and Bulgaria, nations that have long histories
and strong national identities. Their ultimate existence and stability, in other words,
is not shaped by how fairly ballots are counted. Afghanistan, on the
other hand, is the epitome of the failed state. Therefore, decrying the
UN's inability to monitor perfunctory elections while, at the same
time, ignoring the obvious fact that the country itself doesn't exist
in any meaningful way, is kind of stupid. This what Hitchens seems unable to comprehend. Elections won't change the
geo-political abyss that is currently sucking both money and lives.
