In an environment where lawlessness and subornation have filled the vacuum left by the Taliban’s ouster, interim president Hamid arzai has called for the creation of an Afghan army — national mobilization that, in the words of Ali Shamkhani, is supposed to “establish peace and security” in the country. It is one of the provisional government’s top priorities-held as the country’s only way to avoid civil war and guard against a weak, illegitimate government-the same situation that enabled al Qaeda’s presence. However, the country is still struggling to solidify a legitimate government that can control or influence provincial strongmen and establish basic law and order.

Afghanistan is teeming with potential threats to security and stability, and they are both internal and transnational in scope. To what extent these threats fall under the purview of national defense, and to what extent they are classified as civil police functions, is one of the most complex issues facing Afghanistan. A national armed force must be loyal to the state and able to defend the country against threats to security. In Afghanistan, though, internal power struggles and armed, subversive Taliban loyalists may pose the greatest threats to national survival — highlighting the difficulties of organizing “law and order” in a society dominated by desperate poverty and warlords. Creation of an Afghan army, rather than concentrating on internal police functions and border controls, may not be the most effective way to deal with marked corruption, drug and arms trafficking, and hijacking of foreign aid.