Does Mullah Omar deserve to replace Karzai in 2014?

Comparing Hamid Karzai, an internationally recognized but fraudulently elected President of Afghanistan, with Mullah Omar, a globally condemned (with exception of Pakistan) and desperately wanted leader of the Taliban, might be unsavory since the two are staggeringly dissimilar. But it shouldn’t be sinful to have a crude comparative look at the two.

If Hamid Karzai is the prime source of all Afghanistan’s ills, as is widely reported in the international elite media, Mullah Omar is surely his genuine mismatch and perhaps Karzai’s failures benefits  him more than anyone else.

The two leaders have disparaging performance records.

Despite his initial celebration as Afghanistan’s George Washington, Hamid Karzai is now reported as a corrupt demon that not only fails the Afghan Government but also fails the US mission in his war-torn country. With the exception of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mr. Karzai has fallen out of favor with almost all Western leaders.

Unlike Karzai, Mullah Omar has maintained his profound relations with Pakistan and his Arab patrons invincibly strong. 

How can one talk and write about Afghanistan and forget corruption? In this area too, Karzai and Omar’s performance is intriguing.

Mr. Karzai has been heading one of the most corrupt governments on earth with sources of corrupto-criminality allegedly reaching to his vice presidents and cabinet members.

Mullah Omar, on the other hand, is commanding an army of puritan fighters that have a proved history of lack of interest in the mundane wealth.

One can hardly find a mini-palace, a sprawling private township or a multi-million dollar foreign account belonging to a Taliban commander but in Karzai government’s case it is the reverse. For over 11 years President Karzai has failed to bring any high-profile corrupt official in his government to accountability but Mullah Omar sacked and almost killed Agha Jan Motasim, his most senior political adviser, on charges of embezzlement. (Read Motasim’s frightening story here:http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/25/afghanistan-a-moderate-defies-the-taliban.html)

In the eyes of some Afghans, justice is another key area where Mr. Karzai is lagging far behind Mr. Omar.

Hamid Karzai has has issued a blanket amnesty for all egregious crimes committed in Afghanistan over the last three decades and has additionally provided almost every available criminal warlord with political power, legal impunity and legitimacy. According to Human Rights Watch, Karzai’s government has even incarcerated hundreds of female victims of rape while leaving their alleged rapists at large. (Read Human Rights Watch report here: http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/03/28/afghanistan-hundreds-women-girls-jailed-moral-crimes) 

Contrary to President Karzai’s policy of accommodating and legitimizing allied warlords and mass murderers, Mullah Omar has no mercy for them. Mullah Omar’s justice is swift, brutal and incorrupt – better or worse than Karzai’s corrupt and absent judiciary?

Karzai and Omar have nothing to share in their leadership qualities either.

Every outgoing minister and official from President Karzai’s government automatically turns Karzai's staunch critic and opposition. The so-called “political opposition” of President Karzai is in reality a vocal and powerful network of former Karzai ministers with no alternative agenda but a “bring-us-back” chorus.

Omar, on the other hand, has maintained his supreme leadership, despite all international efforts to break his loyal circle, and has an army of fans who voluntarily blow up themselves serving the Emir.

Omar could also be credited for changing Washington’s code of “you’re either with us or against us” to “talk, fight, build” and off course “exit”.

Unlike Karzai’s mercurial tempter and unpredictable vision, Omar would lose everything but not back off from his decision, however ugly it might be.

When criminals/warlords abuse a state and fail democracy, cruel justice is required to restore some order.

President Karzai has made it very clear that he will not seek a third, unconstitutional, term. In fact he is even pondering an early departure in 2013. Already a number of Karzai’s former-minister-now-opposition (FMNO) figures are cherishing the dreams of presidency. However, it would be naïve to believe any FMNO would achieve what has not been achieved in a decade of Karzai’s free-for-all leadership and with matchless international involvement.

Mr. Karzai has ruled for over 11 years but has failed even to mentor a potential successor (another weak point in leadership). This will leave Afghanistan in a foreseeable leadership chaos when he will finally step down in 2013/14.

It would be a big shame and a huge loss to have Mullah Omar back as Afghanistan’s Emir after long years of so-called democratization, state building and a very expensive, in blood and treasure, war. But where warlords badly fail democracy and justice a dreadful totalitarian like Mullah Omar might be needed to bring some cruel justice, order and less corruption.