President Ghani fosters hope with strong start

President Ashraf Ghani is proving popular with the people of Afghanistan. A recent survey by the Asia Foundation has reported that 8 out of 10 Afghans approve of his performance so far.

“We are really happy with the new government, both His Excellency President Ashraf Ghani, and Doctor Abdullah. We want them to make Afghanistan peaceful and our economy strong,” said an Afghan citizen.

Another Afghan citizen said “So far the new government is doing well, I hope they will continue in this manner and be successful.”

Fayeq Wahidi, Deputy Spokesman to President Ghani, said “These are the first two months, and important changes have been made in introducing reforms, and very important steps have also been taken in improving governance and on peace and security.”

“He started with a lot of energy and apparent determination and with a strong focus on reform, on rooting out corruption. So he reopened the investigation into the Kabul Bank scandal when millions of dollars were allegedly taken by dozens of members of the Afghan elite from a leading Kabul bank, it nearly ruined the economy here,” Kate Clark of Afghan Analyst Network said.

Ghani stated that reopening the Kabul Bank case was the first step in the fight against corruption. And as a result both the former Chairman and the Chief Executive of the bank have received 15-year prison sentences for their involvement in the scandal.

An Afghann citizen said “As we can see the government is taking the case seriously and the people involved in the Kabul Bank case should be arrested and the money, nine hundred million dollars, should be taken back from them.”

“It was eye-opening for the nation, and the President showed people that he really aims to serve and help the people. The President’s trip to Pakistan was meant to help us to have peaceful relations with them and to open doors for a better business relationship with them,” said another Afhgan citizen.

The meeting with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif could mark a new beginning in Afghanistan-Pakistan relations. The two men are due to meet again at the International Conference on Afghanistan to be held in London in December. More locally in Kabul he has caused quite a stir by making unannounced visits to many institutions.

Kate Clark from Afghan Analyst Network said “Now some of these are clearly, well I would say are probably urban myths. There was one very early going around that he visited a bakery and told the baker off for making the bread too light. So that was one. Others have appeared to be stories but have indeed turned out to be true. So visits to police stations, hospitals, and prisons. And this, at least it seems to have gone down well with people, it’s in a tradition of what Afghan leaders are supposed to do, to sort of stand up for the people against the state.”

“It’s because he wants to see things for himself, on how things are there, and make an assessment on how are things there. And when he notices any shortcomings he takes action to correct them,” deputy spokesman to President Ghani said.

There has, however, been some criticism that the President missed his own deadline to appoint a cabinet.

According to Clark “There is a limited amount to what he can actually do until he has formed a government with Doctor Abdullah, who was the runner up in the election.
Basically they need to sort out the government, they need to appoint ministers, governors, possibly police chiefs – we don’t know, Supreme Court. I mean there is a lot of major appointments to be made that will basically show everyone the direction of the new government. And of course there is controversy about who gets what seats.”

President Ghani certainly has his work cut out, taking leadership of a country that faces a number of urgent tasks. He must deal with issues such as the contracting economy, an active insurgency, unemployment and a legacy of corruption that has made the Afghan people untrusting of government officials. But despite all of these challenges, the Asia Foundation has reported that 55 per cent of Afghans say they believe their country is moving in the right direction.

This is the script of a NATOChannel story by Lauren Muchan