U.N. head despondent over Afghan situation

The power of the government does not extend far beyond the capital, Kabul.

Kai Eide, the U.N.'s controversial Special Representative told the Security Council that a working civilian government, civil structures and a capable Afghan national army are the keys to success.

“If we do not take the civilian components of the transition strategy as seriously as the military component, then we will fail. What we need is a strategy that is politically and not militarily driven.”

He called for “A politically-driven strategy where Afghan-ownership and capacity stand at the center of our activities...the military surge must not be allowed to undermine equally important civilian objectives and the development of a politically driven strategy.” Stated another way, President Karzai's Kabul government, not Washington must “own” the problem.

In a land where 80 percent of the population is dependent on agriculture (farming is often defined as opium production), where infrastructure is lacking or always being attacked by the Taliban terrorists, and where nearly the entire Kabul government budget comes from foreign aid, the very concept of a normal civil society seems at stunningly glaring odds with reality.

For example, Eide cites significant improvement in education where primary and secondary students (not mentioning girls that are in school too) have reached an impressive seven million.

Excellent. Yet he laments there is only room for 60,000 university students!

While so many talented Afghans are in university abroad, I wonder if he is hinting the international community should be offering a college education as part of the international reconstruction package?

Ban Ki-moon stressed, “Ultimately the main obstacle is not the lack of structures or even a shortage of resources — rather, the main problem is a question of political will.” Indeed, there's plenty of blame to go around, but there's a particular responsibility for the Afghans themselves to solve their own problems. We can help, we have helped, and we will continue to help, but there clearly comes a point where the international conferences and global aid programs can go just so far. If we are promoting the proverbial “soft power,” it may come at the cost of a hard knock price-tag.

John J. Metzler is a United Nations correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. Contact jjmcolumn@att.net

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