Good news from Afghanistan

Good news from Afghanistan: The splintered country’s diverse and often warring groups came together to write a constitution that the country’s foreign minister hails as a model or inspiration for other nations in the Islamic world.

Representatives of the war-torn country’s regional, religious, ethnic and tribal groups, in a Loya Jerga or Grand Assembly, spent three weeks heatedly writing a national constitution to unite the often divided people. The assembly is described as "extraordinarily diverse," yet its members defied skeptics and agree on a document that provides for a strong presidency and national parliament.

That’s good news for Afghanistan, and good news for the United States and its Coalition partners who ousted the Taliban and are continuing the war on terrorism elsewhere. The new Afghan Constitution further validates the Bush Doctrine of regime change.

Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah told Insight magazine that the regime change could be helpful elsewhere: "The spirit of the constitution, which reflects inclusiveness, respect for individual and communal rights, the rule of law and accountability among others, such as taking the country’s religious and traditional precepts into consideration, could be used as a model or an inspiration for other Islamic countries."

Note: For a running chronology of military developments in Afghanistan, click here.