(CNN) -- Yep. You read the headline right. We are so used to the constant flow of bad news from much of the Muslim world that it's hard to get your head around the good news when things go right somewhere like Afghanistan. Consider that the Afghans have done exactly what the feckless and irresponsible Iraqi government failed to do during the past several years. On Monday Afghans formed a "national unity government" with the once-bitter rivals Dr. Ashraf Ghani, taking the role of president and Dr. Adullah Abdullah taking the role of chief executive officer; similar, it is envisioned, to a prime ministerial role.Amid all the bad news, there's a sign of progress in Afghanistan, says Peter BergenBergen: A national unity government has agreed to a continuing U.S. presenceHe says Afghan leaders are making calls opposite to what Iraq's al-Maliki didBergen: Afghanistan's economy could benefit from signs of greater stability
Again, this is exactly the opposite of what happened in _ where the Iraqis would not sign a similar basing agreement with the United States. Afghanistan and _ have roughly the same size populations, which therefore makes Iraq today about eight times more violent than Afghanistan.