Agha Khan: democracy in Iraq is difficult and long

The spiritual leader of the Ismaeli community al-Agha Khan said in a statement to the French daily La Croix issued yesterday that establishing the foundation of democracy in Iraq will constitute a long and difficult process due to the fact that democracy was not implemented in Iraq for a long time.

Al-Agha Khan considered that the solution is linked to five fundamental issues which are the role of the UN to rebuilding Iraq; the possibilities of "a British- American provisional colonialism," winning the election of a Shiite authority, a coalition for the Shiite with Iran and Yemen and the relations between Shiite and the Sunni on the one hand and between the Arab Shiite and the Arab Sunni on the other.

He indicated that the Post- Taliban phase in Afghanistan proves the difficulty of unifying the country, changing the regime and finding leaders to make the change.