Marc, perhaps you joined the discussion a bit late, but my suggestion was not to implement Islam as a symbol of national unity per se; but to utilize the only existing unifying vehicle. If the monarchy is a better vehicle, so be it, but I doubt that it has the transnational appeal that a virulent form of nationalism with the impramatur of the Islamic scholars would at this time.
My position is that Afghanistan lacks a national identity that most Afghans see as a cause worth sacrificing for - which may be mission essential in a COIN fight where ANA troops have to deploy, fight and die in other regions of the country. Islam at least holds the potential for operationalizing fatwas into a cogent nationalist theme. maybe.
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