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Afghanistan economy a long way from fixed

Economic progress has to accompany military gains if the U.S. and its allies hope to turn the corner in impoverished Afghanistan, the Obama administration says.

But if recent testimony before Congress on Afghanistan’s economy correctly assesses the situation, the impoverished nation where 57,000 U.S. and 40,500 allied troops are fighting the persistent insurgency there has a long, long way to go before it has a functioning government and a viable economy that does not rely on massive illegal opium poppy harvests.

All three elements are interconnected. “It really is not about how many troops you put on the ground,” retired Marine Gen. James Jones, White House national security advisor, told the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C., May 27. “It’s about whether you can achieve security, economic development, and governance and rule of law simultaneously.”

Jones told the group that if all national and international efforts are fully implemented, it should be apparent within one year whether the administration’s new regional strategy to stabilize Afghanistan and Pakistani will succeed.

Given the country’s litany of problems, such a view will require particularly sharp vision. As Rep. John Tierney, D-Mass., pointed out during a July 14 hearing on U.S. efforts to promote the Afghan economy, Afghanistan is one of the least stable, most fragile states, and is still one of the poorest and most corrupt nations on Earth.

“Crime and security have become a major issue,” said Aly Mawji, Afghanistan country director for the Aga Khan Development Network, speaking at the hearing via a satellite video link. “Corruption is a phenomenal issue.”

In addition, the country’s Ministry of Planning has become “weakened” under the Karzai administration, said Mohammad Usman, former senior policy and planning advisor to the Afghani Agriculture Minister. This complicates efforts to provide reconstruction aid, Tierney said afterwards, calling the problem a “huge” issue.

“Who’s organizing or orchestrating cooperation so that these efforts are maximized and focused?” he said. “We’ve been running around for 30 years in circles. If we don’t show at some point in time we’re going to make some concerted improvement here, what are we doing?”

Tierney said he doesn’t necessarily agree that the many years required to rebuild Afghanistan necessarily means a long-term U.S. troop presence, maintaining that the two thrusts are separate issues.

But economic advances will demand concurrent security advances, which U.S. officials want to see made permanent in the form of trained and capable Afghan Security Forces.

In news reports, U.S. field commanders have complained of inadequate Afghan military contributions to the ongoing offensive centered in southern Afghanistan. And U.S. officials recently told the Washington Post that Afghanistan’s army, now in excess of 80,000 troops and slated to grow to 134,000, needs to be much larger, an effort that will take years.