Why can't Afghans find a leader to take us out of trouble like every other country?

Article written on 14/04/2007
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Afghanistan has faced some turbulent times over the past decades and we have managed to begin to claw ourselves out of the devastation, however there is still a vast amount of work remaining to rebuild our country.

When reading through Afghan history, it seems that there is a tendency to leave things uncompleted. Whenever, we are in trouble we get ourselves out but never completely. We stop before we make real progress and the struggle continues.

This issue has left me rather confused for some time, because Afghans are no less talented, sharp, clever, determined and focused than any other nation. To top it off, Afghans carry hearts of rocks, which give us the strength to fight any trouble in our way. However, there is something preventing us from digging ourselves out of the disarray that our country is in.

So what do you think the reason is? I think it is because we don't have a leader to takes us all the way. It is always the joint effort of the civilians who manage to pull the nation out of the situation to some extent but then there is no one to guide them the rest of the way.

So why is that then? If we are so good then we should have good leaders? Shouldn't we?

Well we do have good leaders but the problem is we just have too many.

In a previous piece of writing, I have mentioned the three types of education systems that Afghans in Afghanistan or in exile use to educate themselves and their dependents with.

One major defect with all three of these systems, which is inherited from our way of thinking, is that all of our education systems some how links to an elite educational system.

The difference between an elite education system and a conventional education system is that a conventional education system would concentrate on producing good and skilled citizens while an elite education system concentrates on creating good leaders.

Do you see the problem, no matter what type of education we have, whether it is conventional, religious or unconventional; they all insist on making us educational elites. We all want to govern and no one is mentally ready to be governed. Leaders alone cannot run the system if there is no one to follow, no matter how good of a leader he/she maybe.

I am not saying we should put a stop on creating education elites but we do need to concentrate on the good and skilled citizens too. For now we have enough leaders, we need to workout a way on how to train the rest of us to be followers.

So my conclusion is that the fault lies within us. When we become good followers and good citizens, we will have good leaders that will take us all the way when fighting a trouble and leave nothing behind.

Play your part, to help this situation. Everyone can make a difference, starting from me and you.