Afghanistan needs another type of legitimation

The electoral fraud in Afghanistan raises the question of whether the international community can continue to work with President Hamid Karzai with a good conscience, the conservative daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: "Two questions arise: Is there an alternative to Karzai? The Afghans should really decide this for themselves, with as little interference as possible from abroad. But this poses the threat of violent conflicts, which in turn raises the second, fundamental question: Is it wise to rely on elections as the key instrument for legitimation in unstable states with a mode of government that doesn't correspond to Western ideas? Instead of plunging the country into the turbulence and conflicts of an election campaign it would have been better to strengthen the constitutional institutions and vigorously tackle corruption."

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