Even the future role of the country\u2019s warlords is uncertain. Karzai has kept most of these men off balance and relatively weak during his tenure, and deserves credit for doing so. Yet these men are not gone from public life. They have continued to profit from contracts and investments largely tied to the presence of foreign militaries: vested economic interest is a major factor that keeps them loyal to the democratic system. Indeed, in the 12 and a half years of Karzai\u2019s rule, many have sanitized their images\u201d\u201dshorter beards, fancier suits, more politically correct language. For better or worse, their sons and daughters, who seem more attuned to democratic practices, are now beginning to step into their fathers\u2019 shoes.<\/p>\n
Spanta says he doubts anyone could have fared better than Karzai in such a fragmented society. And yet the next president of Afghanistan will inherit a broken chain of command, weak institutions, and a variety of local powers that may prove difficult to bring to heel\u201d\u201dall the more so because he will lack the personal connections that Karzai worked so hard to cultivate. \u201cThe question of whether the forces from the past will succeed again\u201d\u009d or whether modernizing forces will take the country forward\u201d\u201d\u201cthis has not been finalized.\u201d\u009d Almost none of the achievements made under Karzai appear irreversible, Spanta lamented. Instead, Afghanistan remains a place stuck between modernity and its own splintered history. Which way it will move next is anyone\u2019s guess.<\/p>\n