No mature democracy functions without political parties. What this system has stopped is the formation of new democratic forces, parties that force people to appeal to a wide base.

It's an incredibly emotive issue. This is something that really upset Afghans. But it is also being used to agitate and motivate the crowds by those against the government and foreign forces being here.

The state we're in now is because of the policy decision to co-opt those people who in the past committed human rights abuses. There's a culture of impunity. They continue in many cases to abuse the rights of people under them. There are drug problems in the north, tribal problems, sheer criminality.

Transitions are a time of testing, and both sides will have something to prove -- the NATO forces to show they are tough, their opponents to show they won't run. There will be more troops and more targets. It will be a pretty messy summer.

It's an incredibly emotive issue. This is something that really upset Afghans.

Politics is a part of everyday life in Afghanistan, so I think it's not right to say that they are completely inexperienced in politics. But, yes, they are going to need a lot of support to begin with, learning their way. Some of them will be illiterate, but I'm not too worried. Leaders will emerge there pretty quick, and they'll know what they are doing. They know about politics.