Out of few things that last thirteen years of democracy has not much changed in Afghanistan is the typical mindset of old militants, tribal elders, warlords and similar groups who got birth with the beginning of the civil war and then flourished in all the years of this bloody conflict.

It started from internal conflict among Afghans for ousting the king, then the invasion of Russians, the era of Mujahideen and then the rule of Taliban. These decades were the decades of conflict and bloodshed and the only criterion was the power and rule was of 'might is right' and the powerful decided upon the laws and set the standards.
Though last thirteen years of democracy has changed so many things and these long years of peace and stability in the country were also successful in changing the minds of people but there are still some mindsets that are resisting these changes and want to follow the ways that they have followed for the last three to four decades. This can be better clarified by the following two examples.

I was accompanying my friend to buy an air-ticket from the center of our capital city, Shahre-Naw. When we were entering the office of the travel agent, I noticed a new Land Cruiser with tinted glasses. Near the vehicle was parked a police vehicle. Four policemen were sitting under the shade of a tree in front of the office. They were having strange guns and I also noticed three to four rockets in a box-like thing placed at the back side of the vehicle. They were busy in talking to each other and without giving much attention to them, we entered the office. I understood that they were the security guards of any VIP present in the office. Anyhow, we went inside the office and purchased a ticket and came out. When we were approaching our vehicle, one of the policemen took out the sound of a dog and others started laughing. They were looking at us.

First, we ignored them thinking as they might be doing any kind of joke with each other. But the next moment, one of them used a bad word and again the rest laughed. Both of us understood that we were their targets as there was not present anyone between us. It was annoying but because of Ramadan, we preferred to ignore and kept walking towards the car. But then they used another bad word and we had to stop. Before we could have said anything, one of them yelled, 'Buru, buru, rahita bigir' (Go, go, and keep walking!). My friend asked, 'Do you have any problem?' To this, four of them stood up, took their heavy guns and started walking towards us if they would hit us with them. When they got to us, one of them pointed his gun towards us and said, 'What is wrong with you two, we are making jokes with each other. Take your way; otherwise, we will beat you so much that you will remember this day for the rest of your life'. With this, the remaining three also started shouting. Some passerby stopped and I was thinking before I could say anything to them.

My friend holds an important position in government and he could have easily handled them but at that very moment, it was not wise to utter anything stupid. There could have been no difference between them and us if we had also said something in reply. Then the people took them away and also made us seated in our car. There were many options available if we had followed this matter. But what could have we done at most? To dismiss them from their jobs. It was certain that they were mere soldiers and their families depended on them and we could have become the victims all the curses of their families by doing so. We discussed this for a while in the car and then decided to forget this altogether.

Last year, I met an old commander who was also having an important position in the present government. In his times, he used to be very strong and influential and was famous for being strict and cruel. We were going to his home in his vehicle with a government plate and he was on the driving seat. On the way, he got angry with the traffic jam and entered his vehicle in the opposite lane and blocked the road. Traffic warden came running and asked him to take his vehicle on a side. He at once started using very bad language against him and the warden also understood that he was not an ordinary man so he cleared the way for him and let him go. When we moved a bit forward, the car in front of us stopped to pick up a passenger and blocked the traffic. To this he took his head out of the window and used some new variety of bad words he had. The driver moved the car forward. Then he said, 'Aah, it is not the old times, otherwise, I could have beaten this stupid driver to death'. I had nothing to say in this regard.

This 'might is right' mentality is found in those old commanders and leaders who spent almost all their lives in the same environment. As mentioned earlier, last thirteen years of democracy has definitely brought some changes but they are not enough to change the effects of a habit and mentality that was in full spin for three decades. One day, when I was doing the same complaints, an old man smiled and said, 'My dear, the things have much improved. You are complaining because you have not seen those days when they used to kill people for petty things. Now, everyone is doing business, has money and there are so many things in order but in old days, you could have not gone to the square without being looted by their soldiers. You had to hide your property or even a beautiful girl or good-looking boy from them as there was no power to stop them and they did whatever they wanted.'

But then democracy comes as a blessing and a cool breeze of relief in this case. It is the system which seasons the thoughts, acts and minds of people in a way that the rule of law governs all other laws made and molded according to the personal desires. Democracy may be having many drawbacks and flaws but it is like a tree that takes time to get mature and once it reaches to maturity, keeps giving the fruit for years and years to follow and every passing year adds to the firmness and productivity of this tree. If we hate such behaviors and want to finish those mindsets, we need to work to strengthen the democracy. This is the one and only solution of the above problem and many other problems prevalent like a cancer in our society.