Afghan Parliament

For the first time since the 1970's, Afghanistan has seen the meeting of a democratically elected Parliament. One thing I clearly did not predict several years ago is that Afghanistan would turn out so much better than Iraq has. While the situation in Afghanistan is far from perfect, its power holders seem to have settled on collaboration with each other to play the game and mediate disputes through good old-fashioned political corruption rather than violence. This is a situation which could lay the groundwork for a democratic society.