Conventional Wisdom
The effort in Afghanistan is worthy, but results have been poor and the coalition is cracking.
Facts
A coalition led by NATO forces went into Afghanistan less than one month after the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, DC. The purpose was to remove the brutal and repressive Taliban regime that was harboring al-Qaeda and their terrorist training camps. The military victory was swift and decisive. Of the 41,000 troops deployed there, about half were American; the other half were from the forty coalition countries that supported the effort.
As of early 2008, there are still pockets of resistance, and problems existed in some of the remote mountainous regions of the country, but the accomplishments of the coalition effort in that country are impressive. A report by our Canadian partners in the reconstruction effort, summarized the progress as follows:
A population of 26 million Afghans are now free from the Taliban and 4.6 million refugees have returned to Afghanistan. In addition to establishing a credible government through two national elections (parliamentary and presidential), in which 10 million Afghans voted--41% of which were women--and an impressive 14,000 community district councils have been elected.
The lives of many Afghans have been immeasurably improved. Per capita income has doubled and Afghanistan's GDP has tripled. 200,000 Afghans, 90% of whom were women, have received micro-finance business loans.
At least 7.2 million children have been vaccinated against polio; and 4.3 million vaccinated against common childhood diseases. 77% of Afghans have access to medical facilities--compared to less than 10% in 2001.
School attendance is up almost ten fold to 6 million children. One third of these students are girls, compared with no girls in 2001. 363,000 teachers have been provided with teaching material. Hygiene education has been provided to 3.4 million people.
In addition, the coalition has made much progress in improving the country's infrastructure. 3,000 miles of new and refurbished roads have been completed; 2,500 villages have electricity for the first time; 8,000 construction projects have been completed and 14,000 more are underway; 1,700 water reservoirs have been built; 130 agriculture projects, benefiting 300,000 farmers, have been started; 8,100 new water points and 8,000 latrine blocks, benefiting 3 million people, have been constructed; and 4,000 houses and shelters have been built for the needy.
Afghans are also more secure than before. 60,000 Taliban soldiers were disarmed and demobilized while 30,000 Afghan National Army soldiers and 46,000 Afghan National Police have been trained and equipped. 190,000 mines defused and removed.
Despite claims that the coalition was about to fall apart in late 2007, Germany, France, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand all reaffirmed their commitment to stay the course in Afghanistan, for "as long as it takes," or "at least through 2011." And in some cases, troop strength is actually increasing. Likewise, the General Secretary of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, made a similar pledge of ongoing support for the government in Kabul during a summit meeting on the future of NATO in Europe in April 2008.44
Assessment
The improvements in Afghanistan--none of which would have been possible under the repressive, cruel, and dangerous Taliban regime--are an inspiring demonstration of broad, unified global community in action. The effort was led by the United States. When the global press was trying to portray it as a failure, it was always the "U.S. led coalition." Now that it has succeeded, let's continue to call it what it was. It was led by the United States of America. To the many other countries who have done their part, we owe a deep appreciation.
Conventional Wisdom
The Afghan people are bitterly divided. Most prefer the Taliban and their Islamic customs to the plans being imposed by the U.S. and NATO.
Facts
Since coalition and Northern Alliance forces ousted the Taliban from the capital of Afghanistan in November 2001, the government has undergone a critical transformation. Al-Qaeda has lost its safe haven, a new democratic government was established, and on December 7, 2004, the citizens of that country elected Hamid Karzai as their president. Looking back at the progress that had been made, a 2006 report from the Pakistan News Service offered the following assessments of Democracy, Equality, Health Care, Education, and the Afghan Economy.
Progress in Afghanistan
Democracy: Prior to 2001 there was no national government and no democracy in Afghanistan. Today, however, Afghanistan has held a series of successful elections, and has a constitution, an elected president, and a parliament.
Equality: Women, banished from society under the Taliban, now have places in government. Eighty-seven women, 25% of the total number of the members of parliament, sit on the National Assembly. In addition, approximately 40% of Afghan children in schools today are girls--up from zero at the time of the NATO invasion.
Health care: Fully 80% of the Afghan population now has access to health care--up 10 times from 2001. For a country at Afghanistan's stage of development, this is extremely high.*
Education: Almost 6 million Afghan children are in school today--six times more than 2001. University enrollment is up 10 times higher than in 2001, to more than 40,000 graduate and undergraduate students. Despite an increase of attacks by the Taliban, killing schoolteachers and burning down village schools, more than 1,000 schools were built or opened for the first time in the year 2006 alone.
Economy: The Afghan economy has tripled in national GDP since 2001, and per capita income has doubled. People simply have more money in their pocket, and the atmosphere in the major cities is enthusiastic and optimistic. After 25 years of war, the economy was almost non-existent. There was no centralized government to institute economic policy, and little infrastructure--not even a formal banking system. What commerce there was existed outside of any domestic or international structure. And there were few opportunities for Afghans to improve their lives.
Another important indicator of progress, the report concluded, is the fact that record numbers of Afghans who fled the country at the beginning of the war are now coming home. At the time of this report, more than four million refugees had returned to their native land--one of the largest return movements in history. They've come because they feel safer now, and feel they have a chance to build a better life for their families. A survey of Afghans across the country in 2006 found that 84% of the people consider themselves better off today than they were under the Taliban, and 76% said they feel security is better today than at any time in the last 25 years.46
Assessment
How do you measure success? A September 2006 Defense Department report offers insightful analysis of what has been going on in Afghanistan since operations began in that country. Before the events of September 11, al-Qaeda was in Afghanistan training thousands of would-be terrorists and planning attacks without restraint. At that time, the Taliban provided safe haven for terrorists and imposed a totalitarian religious regime on the entire Afghan population. Today that country is no longer a safe haven for al-Qaeda, and there are no functioning al-Qaeda training camps.
As peace is being restored in that devastated region, Afghanistan is becoming a strong partner in the ongoing War on Terror. The Afghan people are free of totalitarian leadership and are being led by democratically elected officials, including a president, a national assembly, and a new constitution. As a result of concerted international efforts, key al-Qaeda leaders have been killed, captured, or put on the run. The report then goes on to list the following accomplishments:
As Mujahedeen forces and the remaining Taliban resistance are being rooted out in remote tribal regions of the country, Afghanistan's National Army has improved through training exercises with multinational forces. Today 26,600 trained and equipped personnel serve in its ranks, and the Ministry of Interior Police now boasts 57,800 trained officers.
Unlike conventional armies, Islamic terrorists don't fight on a conventional battlefield. They can be anywhere, and often hide out in countries that are America's allies. To counter this challenge, U.S. and Afghan forces are working together to ferret out suspected terrorist safehouses and training sites. At the same time, defense and relief operations must consider the needs of citizens who have suffered under decades of repression.
Facts
According to the World Bank, Afghanistan ranks near the top of all nations in the ease of starting a business. More than 3 million land deeds and more than 55,000 businesses have been registered with the government since 2001. Another impressive sign of the energy in the Afghan marketplace is the opening of a new $25 million bottling plant in Kabul by the Coca Cola Company, which employs approximately 500 Afghan workers. U.S. companies such as Ford, 3M, and Boeing are reportedly exploring the possibility of establishing plants there as well.
At the time of the war, Afghan's economy was in the tank. In early 2002, the entire economy was valued at a modest $2.4 billion. By 2006 the economy had more than tripled, to $7.3 billion, and was projected to top $8.8 billion in 2007. At the same time, per capita income has doubled since 2001. The government collected more than $177 million in tax revenues in 2002-2003, and $300 million in 2004-2005. There is now a central bank in Kabul with thirty-two computerized branches. Funds in the Afghanistan central bank are protected by approximately $2 billion in foreign capital reserves.
Regarding basic infrastructure, more than 6,200 miles of road have been built or improved since the collapse of the Taliban regime, with nearly 2,000 miles now in the process of repair. Completion of a new Kabul to Kandahar highway has improved transportation for 30% of the population, and reduced travel times for those two cities from fifteen hours to six hours. Repair and rehabilitation of the Kajaki Dam and surrounding transmission lines has brought electrical power to 1.7 million Afghans in one of the country's most sensitive security areas.
"Afghanistan: UN will stay as long as it takes to ensure peace," Adnkronos (Italy: Published online in English), Apr. 4, 2008. [http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/ * Note that this estimate of access to medical care differs slightly from figures cited earlier by the Kandahar Reconstruction Team, but still represents a very impressive improvement. "NATO making a difference in Afghanistan," Pak Tribune (Pakistan News Service), Nov. 12, 2006. [http://www.paktribune.com/
Leave a comment