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Chapter V : Five Years On, the US-led International Community has Failed Afghanistan
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Nation-building priorities in the wrong sequence
Conclusions and Recommandations
Field Report: International community prioritised own security over Afghans’ needs
Five Years On, the US-led International Community has failed Afghanistan
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A. 2001: The broken promise to put an end to insecurity and oppression
B. A vicious cycle of undelivered aid and insecurity
C. Afghans have turned against international community: feeling of betrayal permeates country
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Summary: Nation-building priorities in the wrong sequence
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The ousting of the Taliban regime five years ago was widely believed to mark a new era for Afghanistan. Plagued by decades of violence and poverty, the arrival of the international community heralded a bright future for Afghanistan, confirmed by speeches assuring that the Afghan people would forever be freed from insecurity and oppression. The United States claimed the removal of the Taliban as a humanitarian duty, and promised to deliver enduring freedom to the Afghan people. This chapter investigates to what extent the international community has fulfilled these promises.
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“We know that true peace will only be achieved when we give the Afghan people the means to achieve their own aspirations”
George Bush
April 2002
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In reality, there is a large and increasing gap between the massive international expenditure on security in Afghanistan, and the limited nation-building achievements that have resulted from this skewed spending. This security-focused spending indicates that right from 2001, the priorities of the US-led international community for Afghanistan were not in line with those of the Afghan population. Rather, for the past five years, the international community has prioritised physical, military-focused security over the relief of Afghans’ extreme poverty and economic instability. The US-led international community’s preoccupation with military-related security in Afghanistan stems from their domestic ‘homeland security’ objectives, exemplified by the heavy-handed implementation of anti-terrorist and anti-insurgent military operations in the country.
Yet the prioritisation by the US-led international community of its domestic security interests over the real and immediate needs of the Afghan population has had disastrous results for both Afghanistan and the international community. There is widespread and growing disenchantment with the international community, as Afghans question the legitimacy of international involvement in their country. Five years of international involvement in Afghanistan has not improved the day-to-day lives of most Afghans. Millions remain terrorised by poverty and die of preventable diseases. Even though international efforts have been massively devoted to security, the country’s security situation is rapidly deteriorating, with scores of civilian deaths and injuries occurring each week.
The US-led international community’s narrow, militaristic interpretation of security has misdirected urgent development funds towards physical security-related objectives, to the extent that military spending outpaces development and reconstruction spending by a colossal 900%. This focus on security has reinforced and entrenched the militarisation of other responses, notably the international community’s response to Afghanistan’s opium crisis. These heavy-handed strategies, employing crop eradication as a key measure, have failed the Afghan people and had an extremely negative impact on the coordination and sequencing of reconstruction and development efforts. Given Afghanistan’s myriad poverty-related challenges, the prioritisation of counter-narcotics above the survival of Afghans is unfathomable to Afghanistan’s rural communities, and has undermined many of the international community’s more positive efforts.
The US-led international community’s narrow ‘homeland security’ interpretation has directed reconstruction and development funds and efforts towards classic Western post-conflict benchmarks such as elections, to show their domestic electorates that ‘homeland security’ was being achieved in Afghanistan. The goodwill generated by the removal of the Taliban regime meant that the US-led international community’s eagerness to establish the trappings of democracy was tolerated and even embraced by much of the Afghan population. However, because the efforts to establish democracy were largely for the benefit of external audiences, they did not take the real Afghanistan into account, with its reality of mass poverty and the border-line survival of millions. Although Afghanistan now has a president, a constitution and an elected parliament, the incapacities and failures of these democratic institutions to deliver key services such as poverty relief, education and health facilities and justice have undermined the very democracy the international community tried to establish.
Five years of nation-building efforts led by the US and UK have resulted in an Afghanistan that is neither secure nor prosperous. An intensive and extended focus on relieving the poverty of Afghans could have created a solid foundation on which to re-build Afghanistan. Instead, because poverty has not been prioritised, the international community’s democracy-building efforts are collapsing as Afghans starve.
Conclusions
Ignoring extreme poverty is destroying nation-building efforts
The prioritisation of Western domestic security needs in Afghanistan means that Afghans are now paying with their lives. The success of the initial invasion in 2001 has not been followed by real changes in the everyday lives of Afghans.
Futile counter-narcotics policies intensify the security and poverty crises
Failing counter-narcotics policies driven by the international community intent on pushing its War on Drugs in Afghanistan are inflaming poverty and worsening the security crisis in the country. Farmers incensed at having their livelihoods destroyed by international forces fail to see the benefits of the international community in their country. Eradication policies generate local hostility and suspicion towards the designs of the international community in Afghanistan.
Failure of nation-building project makes fertile ground for Taliban revival
For many Afghans, the results of the international community’s nation-building efforts in Afghanistan are largely symbolic and are more in line with the ‘homeland security’ objectives of the foreign forces rather than the real needs of Afghans. A rejuvenated Taliban is exploiting such widespread resentment to stir up instability.
Total military spending vs. total development spending in Afghanistan. 2002-2006
As this chart illustrates, despite the extreme poverty in Afghanistan, the majority of spending by the international community is on military rather than development and poverty relief projects.
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Recommendations
Recommendation I: Poverty relief must be prioritised
There is a widespread failure to comprehend the massive levels of poverty debilitating Afghanistan. The international community must acknowledge the key factor holding back Afghanistan: extreme poverty is threatening the very foundations of the international community’s nation-building efforts. The sequencing of reconstruction and development efforts must address Afghans’ needs.
Recommendation II: Nation-building efforts must be tailored to Afghans’ needs
Nation-building efforts must be integrated with existing local control institutions, which are most relevant to the majority of Afghans. The current practice of ticking the boxes of textbook post-conflict nation building agendas is fuelling Taliban propaganda. The international aid agenda needs more funding and better prioritisation towards addressing Afghans’ needs.
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Field report: International community prioritised own security over Afghans’ needs
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Little on-the-ground improvement
Five years of limited stabilisation, reconstruction and development achievements in Afghanistan are being taken as proof by Afghans that the international community has prioritised its own needs over and above the needs of Afghans. Despite promising to assist the Afghan population in the reconstruction and development of their country, the “foreigners” have focused on their own security requirements. To many Afghans, this self-absorption demonstrates that the international community does not care about Afghanistan. The heavy-handed tactics the international military forces have utilised to pursue this “security” has led to severe disillusionment with the international community, and a widespread and deepening distrust of the Western world.
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“We can tell that you don’t really care about Afghanistan”
Villagers, Kandahar province
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Afghans now believe that the international community lied to them five years ago. In 2001, the majority of Afghans enthusiastically welcomed the international community in Afghanistan as “freedom fighters” and were optimistic that their economic situation would improve, and that their poverty would be relieved. Yet five years on, Afghans are now severely disillusioned with the international community, and describe their initial promises of stability, reconstruction and development as “lies”. In particular, villagers in Kandahar districts speak of foreigners’ broken promises of aid and development, with one villager stressing “I have lost all trust in the foreigners”.
Locals questioning motives of international communitybr>
Afghans do not believe the international community is working in Afghanistan to help Afghans. There is a widespread belief among Afghans that the international community came to Afghanistan for “revenge against 9/11”. A group of tribal elders in Kandahar province expressed the conviction that “the foreigners are not fighting for us, they are fighting for themselves”. Despite their enthusiasm when the Taliban were ousted from the country in 2001, many Afghans believe the poor are more impoverished now than when the Taliban were in power. Many Afghans believe their everyday lives have become worse since the arrival of the international military coalitions in the country.
Only service provided is crop eradication
Although the international community has had a presence in southern and eastern Afghanistan for almost five years now, many villages and districts in southern Afghanistan have not had any contact with representatives from either the international community or the Afghan government. For many Afghans in southern Afghanistan, the only contact they have had with the international community or the Afghan central government is during crop eradication operations.
In many areas of southern and eastern Afghanistan, people are starving to death. In a number of rural villages, no development projects have been implemented, and international aid funds have failed to materialise. Villagers in these districts are diseased and malnourished, and they would welcome the return of the Taliban if it meant that they would be able to feed their families.
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“Things are very difficult here for us. Things were better for us during the Taliban I cannot a get job now”
Villager
Kandahar Province
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Field report conclusions
With civilians being killed on a regular basis, Afghans are angry that the majority of international aid has been spent on the military purposes rather than poverty relief. Many believe that the military missions are misguided, having lost faith in the ability of the “foreigners” to bring stability to the country. A perceived lack of respect from international military troops has fuelled Afghans’ resentment towards the international community. International troops’ apparent unwillingness to study Afghan culture and co-operate with locals, has caused mass hatred of the “foreigners”. Some believe that the ongoing fighting in Iraq and recent clashes in Lebanon are proof that the West is attempting to re-colonise the Muslim world. Many Afghans are now looking to the Taliban for leadership, declaring that they will “die fighting the foreigners”.
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“I wish the foreigners would do what they said they would do when they came here and help us create a better life”
Villagers
Kandahar province
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Overwhelmingly, Afghans feel that they have been betrayed by the international community. Unless the priorities of the international community are immediately and radically shifted, support for the Taliban will continue increasing, and will lead to the collapse of the country.
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