Monday was truly a historic day for our country. In its entire history, it was the first occasion when the transition of government took place peacefully and smoothly. This may sound quite strange for the centuries old democracies where the peaceful transition of government is something of routine but for a country which has a history of power snatching accompanied with a lot of bloodshed, the event was truly historic. It becomes even more important by realizing the fact that country fell into danger of falling into a divide due to the electoral deadlock.

Just like a newly planted tree, first few years or sometimes decades are very critical for a new democracy. In a true sense, democracy never existed in the country. When the kingdom was rolled up, the conspiracies, foreign interventions, Russian invasion, rise of militancy and Taliban and even the famous era of Mujahideen cannot be termed ‘democratic’ as the majority of masses never had their say in the formation of governments which is the soul of democracy. The only way to bring a new government was the extensive use of force and power which accompanied rounds of bloodshed, costing the lives of thousands of people from different sides. At the same time, it resulted in the loss of lives of thousands of innocent citizens and the country was always thrown many years backward and the infrastructure was badly affected. It is the reason why, when Taliban’s regime came to its end, there was not present any kind of transport, communication, security forces, central grid, and other elements of infrastructure and it is one of the glowing performances of Mr. Karzai’s thirteen years’ government that the infrastructure was brought into existence right from the scrape. This transition of government has strengthened the tree of democracy in the country and we can hope that with the completion of the term of this government, democracy will be so strong that it would be able to withstand all the threats.

The next big challenge for the government is to finalize the long-awaited BSA deal which is going to decide upon the fate of the security situation in the country. A lot has been said and written about this security agreement and it is strange that some people are still willing to open again this Pandora box. After the agreement was consented by the grand tribal gathering or Loya Jirga last year, it remains meaningless to discuss different positive and negative aspects of this deal once again. The President, Mr. Ahmadzai and head of the executive, Mr. Abdullah were both well aware of all the discussions going on for almost two years now about this deal and considering all the aspects of this deal, they had announced in their election campaigns to verify it as soon as they come to power. There are reports that this deal is going to be signed today but for this, we will have to wait for one more day. Some parliamentarians had advised the new president not to hurry in signing this deal but generally, the public is eagerly awaiting so that everyone inside and outside the country should be sure that country is going to be safe in terms of security and it is not going to fall into the hands of Taliban or become another Iraq. Large number of investments and international donations are waiting for this deal and the feeble economy of our country is in dire need of such external financial injections.

The oath-taking ceremony was watched eagerly by millions of people both inside and outside the country.  In the capital city of Kabul, hundreds and thousands of people were sitting in front of their television sets with delight and hope. Present government can be termed to be the true representative of all the castes and groups living in the country. The president belongs and represents the majority group of the country, Pashtoons. At the same time, his two deputy presidents belong to two different groups of the country. Similarly, the head of executive, Mr. Abdullah Abdullah and his deputies are also the representative of the different groups of the country. Though there have been numerous efforts by the international players to disintegrate the nation on the basis of language and race but present formation of government has really worked to promote unity among the groups. Now, it becomes the responsibility of all the members of government to work without any discrimination on the bases of race, color or language.

Though both Dr. Ahmadzai and Dr. Abdullah seemed delighted to reach to power and gain the most important positions in the country but it is also a fact that this government is not going to be the bed of roses. So many gigantic, complicated and critical problems are waiting for their resolution. The country is still absolutely dependent on its international allies for meeting its financial needs and establishment of the security forces. The government needs to play tactically while dealing its allies because they are also our necessity and at the same time, we cannot ignore the sovereignty of the country as well. The government should also be careful in dealing with different groups of the country because there is long tradition of getting angry on petty things and soon resorting to violence. The most important task would be to tackle corruption because the corruption was too much flagrant on higher levels. Ministers, members of parliament, important bureaucrats, high-level government officers, top-brass of police and national army and many other important and influential people have been accused of corruption and in such conditions, government would be opening a war with these if tried to bring an end to corruption. It was satisfying that both Dr. Ahmadzai and Dr. Abdullah have vowed to fight corruption and end nepotism in the government. If these two put their hands for this difficult task, their unified efforts might turn this impossible task into possible.

This is also necessary to mention here that the present government is also very fragile and both the heads of state need to act wisely and be sensitive not to cross their boundaries. It is also necessary that they should join hands forgetting the months of opposition they had during the months before and after the elections.

In the end, all the praises to ex-president Hamid Karzai who established a very good tradition of saying farewell to power and handing it over to the president elect. When Mr. Karzai was in power, he was the soft target for any kind of criticism but last week witnessed a dramatic change in this tradition. On television channels, newspapers, and social networking sites, large number of people are praising Mr. Karzai. Though his reign of thirteen years was tinted with a number of blames and accusations but his efforts to bring the country from scrape to the present established situation is also an important achievement for which he would be remembered with respect and admiration for the years to come.