But, living in a diverse and volatile world, and sharing from different backgrounds a common present, non-Muslims as well as Muslims are called upon to renounce, as Arendt put it, not their "tradition and national past", but "the binding authority and universal validity which tradition and past have always claimed".
Arendt feared that this new "unity of the world" would be a largely negative phenomenon if it wasn't accompanied by the "renunciation, not of one's own tradition and national past, but of the binding authority and universal validity which tradition and past have always claimed".
The commission was not granted any binding authority, and it remains to be seen whether the country's new government, led by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, will act on its recommendations, including a call for ramped-up scrutiny of the country's intelligence community.
The Obama administration has been reported to be sympathetic to a compromise plan in which Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki might retain his post with somewhat more limited powers while a new council with binding authority would be established under Ayad Allawi, a former interim prime minister and leader of a political coalition that is a rival to Mr. Maliki's.
As a consequence, they fail to have any binding authority such that citizens have an obligation to obey them.
Other countries have bodies that lack binding authority but do not suffer a lack of influence.
Meanwhile, lawyers for the family said that previous court rulings, not the decree on Friday, were the binding authority on the issue, and that they were moving forward with plans to have the tube removed.
But for Mr. Lowenthal, the former House staffer, the binding authority in this conflict may not be a legal theory, but a literary plot.
The council, an influential group that lacks binding authority, is made up of the Islamic clergy and ulema, or religious scholars, from various parts of Afghanistan.
It would also be able to help ensure greater consistency between the forces, though it was carefully laid down that the Imperial General Staff could only offer "guidance" to the local government and General Staff, and would not have any binding authority over the national forces.
