The hope of the world is that, somehow, as soon as possible, Afghanistan can find a way toward peace and stability, if not prosperity. The problem, of course, is the diversity of ethnic and religious segments of the population, not all of them inclined to accept help from the Western nations, or even an outsider lime the United Nations. Perhaps the writings of a man who lived some four hundred years ago, Thomas Hobbes might lead the way, especially since his theories of a government not only serving the people well, but one to which the people gave some of their rights so that majority and minority can live in harmony. He proposed a social contract whereby the governed select those they consider best able to rule.
Hobbes lived in a time not unlike Afghanistan today- in a world torn by religious and territorial strife, by monarchies and papacies that found antagonism whenever they attempted to exert power. And yet, it is power which makes Hobbes relevant to today's situation and potential solution in Afghanistan. At the beginning of Chapter X of "The Leviathan, Hobbes states that "the power of a man, to take it universally, is his present means to obtain some future apparent good, and is either original or instrumental." So, he lays out the task to end civil strife in today's Afghanistan by suggesting that we (the rest of the civilized world) find someone to accept the power- the power to do good, to unite the people, to have them accept him- or a group of men (a sort of Senate or Assembly). Hobbes favored a monarchy, because he believed it was the steadiest and, in a way, safest, form of government. Hobbes talks about natural power, a power that increases as it proceeds. But, natural power- a sort of "rightful" and inherited power. In other words, there needs to be a natural order of succession. Perhaps this would been restoring the deposed king, even if only as a bridge to something better and more stable. Yet, at the s...