Yale professors 'skeptical' of post-Taliban rule

As delegates in Bonn, Germany begin to lay the groundwork for a stable post-Taliban government in Afghanistan this week, Yale professors remain skeptical that stability can easily be achieved. "I try to avoid being optimistic," Political Science Professor Bruce Russett said.

GETTY IMAGES Delegates from manhy nations began meeting in Bonn, Germany this week to begin crafting a stable post-Taliban government. Many Yale professors doubt success will come easily.

In a speech to the delegates, which includes a broad international coalition of representatives from the U.N., Afghan ethnic groups, and the Western allies, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said, "It is essential now to create credible institutions in which all Afghans are represented, and which are regarded as legitimate by the Afghan people. It is not the role or desire of the United Nations—or of your neighbors—to impose any particular arrangement on the Afghan people. These are decisions for Afghans to make, and the United Nations' role is to assist in this process."

An ethnically diverse coalition of 38 Afghan delegates tentatively accepted former King Zahir Shah as a figurehead during the transitional period. The U.N. hopes that democratic elections will be held within two to three years.

Political Science Professor James Sutterlin, a-long with many of his colleagues, remains doubtful. "The Northern Alliance is likely to insist on a leading role in a representative government. The other faction leaders are likely to resist that. How you get them together is likely to be a difficult puzzle." Charles Hill, visiting lecturer for the International Affairs Council, echoed Sutterlin's concern that factionalism would be a major roadblock to a peaceful and long-lasting government in Afghanistan.

"They have a lot of baggage to overcome," Hill said. He added that no one group controls the Afghan people as a whole.

Russett said that western powers will play a large role in establishing a successful Afghan government. "The country is devastated and is dependent on foreign assistance," he added. Hill remarked, though, that any assistance to Afghanistan "has to be primarily a U.N. affair. It has to be done by the international community."

While President George W. Bush, DC '68, has in the past expressed skepticism regarding the viability of nation-building, Hill contrasted nation-building in previous contexts "without any overriding purpose" and the current efforts to aid the Afghan people in establishing a stable political system. "I don't think [Bush] was opposed to nation-building in this context," he said.

"While [Bush] doesn't believe in nation building in the abstract, it is clearly what is going on here," Russett said. "He has come around on a lot of things."

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