US Declaration of Independence and the current situation in Afghanistan

[Dayuhan]

To put checks and balances on Patronage so that one clan cannot legally dominate another is not "changing how Afghans govern" any more than imposing speed limits is "changing how Americans drive." All it is doing is creating structures to ensure that one element of the populace does not exceed their rights to the detriment of others.

This is a natural evolution of their current system...

That would depend on who is doing the putting and the creating. If Afghans are doing if, on their own initiative and for their own purposes, that's a natural evolution. If we try to do it or we try to compel them to do it, on our initiative and for our purposes, that's imposition and it will not work.

If the only way we can achieve our goals in Afghanistan is to introduce US-style "good governance", then we're in deep scheisse and we need to reassess our goals, because that's something we can't do.