[2banana]

When rioting suddenly broke out in Kabul in May, sparked by a fatal traffic accident involving the U.S. military, most in the city were taken by surprise. Less shocking, alas, was the response of the Afghan National Police, or ANP, to the unrest. Rather than dispersing the mobs and restoring order, Kabul's cops were reported fleeing their posts and, in some cases, joining the looters. "The reaction of our police was really shameful," acknowledged Jawed Ludin, chief of staff to President Hamid Karzai.

And just how is this different than the New Orlean's police?

[KarlInOhio]

And just how is this different than the New Orlean's police?

My first thought on seing the headline was "Who's Kabul's mayor? Ray al-Nagin?"

[gregwest]

I've given this a lot of thought. I would say that, in the United States, we inherited a legacy of law and order from our mother country, England. In Europe, the kings were considered to be placed in authority by God. Indeed many of them trace their lineages back to David and the royal lines of Israel. Under divine right, to oppose the king's authority was to oppose God, who placed the king there. Sedition was likewise a form of heresy or apostasy.

Christian churches taught Biblical teachings that instructed them to honor the king and to uphold the law as citizens of whatever empire they were subject to. The king was believed to be the servant of God.

The American model of government designed by the founders rejected the formation of a national or state Church. Christian principles informed the new nation's moral backbone. Respect for law and order was part and parcel of that legacy.

In Muslim nations, obedience to law has always been enforced by the sword. The people have no internal moral compass because compulsion and force are at the heart of any obedience rendered. Take away the sword, and there is no internal mechanism that encourages obedience.

Today, in the USA, the Christian influence is waning as society becomes more secular. Churches have abandoned preaching repentance and obedience in favor of potentially less offensive messages of self-esteem and prosperity. The end result is that modern American Christians don't fear God's judgment. Without fear of judgment, they can justify almost any behavior and expect that a confession of faith will save them from hellfire. Hence, you get the mass lawlessness of New Orleans after Katrina.

For a people to successfully govern themselves, they need an internal moral compass that accepts responsibility for the outcome and expects God's approbation or punishment for choices and actions. When a nation rejects God or worships a false one, the rule of law becomes dependent solely on the threat of ruthlessness and force. Genuinely free people derive liberty from their willing obedience to true principles.

[Restorer]

My understanding is that about 2/3 of NO cops performed adequately, many of them heroically. The other third performed shamefully. (It would be interesting to know whether the cops that performed shamefully in the crisis also tend to be the "dirty" cops NO has always been infamous for.)

I suspect in Afghanistan the proportions are at least in the other direction.