Afghanistan Needs a King
Afghanistan Needs a Ceremonial King By Wahab Raofi A constitutional monarchy could unite the multi-ethnic Afghans. It’s the best alternative to the Taliban and the National Front Resistance (NRF). Any other political arrangement that lacks the support of the country’s ethnic groups will only stoke the conflict and allow Afghanistan to become a haven for international terrorism. A major component of the never-ending Afghan conflict is the ongoing ethnic rivalry and monopoly of power at the hands of Taliban (mainly Pashtun tribes). They have excluded other groups including the Tajik, Hazara and Uzbek. Non-Pashtuns feel disfranchised and accuse the Taliban of imposing their hegemony on others in the name of Islam and demand a non-centralized government and local autonomy. When the Taliban took over in August 2021 and former President Ashraf Ghani fled, the makeshift order that had been forged in the 20 years prior collapsed. The system shattered because the political arrangement was no...