THE LAST BEST HOPE :

Clear message in Afghanistan: Listen to us (COLLEEN BARRY, June 15, 2002, Associated Press)

Afghans lined up behind microphones for a second day Saturday to air gripes, grievances and ideas about their nation's future as the tribal council to select a new government evolved into more of a national conversation than a decision-making body.

With the election of Hamid Karzai late Thursday as president of an 18-month transitional government, the loya jirga, or grand council, turned its attention to choosing a Cabinet and a 111-seat legislature.

But by midmorning, those subjects had not come up. Instead, delegates spoke on a variety of topics, and their message rang clear: Listen to us. [...]

"At the end of the loya jirga, you should not go home. Don't go to your provinces. Just stay here and have meetings and talk with me - three or four provinces at a time," Karzai said. "I have things to say to you, and I am sure you have things to say to me."

We'd do well not to get too starry eyed about this. We can't build a nation for the Afghan people and if they want more freedom and democracy it will be up to them to create the environment in which those ideals will flourish. But the point is that we've given them an opportunity to choose, one way or the other, peace or war, a new birth of freedom or more tyranny.

That's no small thing for one people to give to another.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 15, 2002 9:39 AM