Even as harbingers of chaos, inexperienced staff and inaccessible terrain made smooth conduct of the Afghan election process an onerous task, incumbent leader Hamid Karzai's coronation may have not only evoked a knee-jerk reaction in the Taliban and Al-Qaeda ranks, it also sounded a death knell for the drug lords, for sure.
Immediately after being sworn-in, the new CEO at Kabul declared a holy war on the drugs trade gripping his war-shattered country, which produces nearly nine-tenths of the world's opium, saying 'trade was more dangerous than terrorism'.
And, the high voter turnout, in the face of Al-Qaeda threat and looming violence, must be viewed in the light of how wary the Afghans are of the constant civil war, and the fact that they now want a regime of peace in order to focus on nation's rebuilding. As the hoopla over a resounding win of ballots over bullets dies down, one of the many challenges staring Karzai in the face will be to come out of the US' shadow, so that Afghanistan can, at last, think independently.
One hopes Karzai lives up to the expectations - of establishing peace in the region, besides leading his nation onto the road to progress.
- Sajjan Singh Thakur