Comments on: Afghanistan’s aid quagmire http://www.globaleconomicgovernance.org/blog/2009/05/afghanistans-aid-quagmire/ from the Global Economic Governance Programme at the University of Oxford Thu, 17 Jun 2010 04:32:39 +0200 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: ks http://www.globaleconomicgovernance.org/blog/2009/05/afghanistans-aid-quagmire/comment-page-1/#comment-1644 ks Sun, 10 May 2009 14:02:45 +0000 http://www.globaleconomicgovernance.org/blog/?p=484#comment-1644 Your second challenge about the lack of coordination is especially provocative. It points to a bigger issue about what exactly donors are trying to create in Afghanistan. Seven years of protracted counterinsurgency, kleptocratic public officials, and a robust narcotics industry have made most donors abandon their initial visions of a democratic and prosperous Afghanistan. As cynical as it may sound, I suspect that most donors would call a moderately stable, but still grossly impoverished, Afghan state a success. (A common quip in some circles is that Yemen is Afghanistan's best case scenario--that means being closer to the 12th century instead of 9th century). Until donors and the Afghan government are able to come up with a more coherent and realistic meta-vision for what is to be developed in the region, the coordination that you call for will be not just piecemeal, but counterproductive to the country's political future. Anyways, I really like your posting. It's good to see international aid policy in Afghanistan get such a cogent treatment. Your second challenge about the lack of coordination is especially provocative. It points to a bigger issue about what exactly donors are trying to create in Afghanistan. Seven years of protracted counterinsurgency, kleptocratic public officials, and a robust narcotics industry have made most donors abandon their initial visions of a democratic and prosperous Afghanistan. As cynical as it may sound, I suspect that most donors would call a moderately stable, but still grossly impoverished, Afghan state a success. (A common quip in some circles is that Yemen is Afghanistan’s best case scenario–that means being closer to the 12th century instead of 9th century). Until donors and the Afghan government are able to come up with a more coherent and realistic meta-vision for what is to be developed in the region, the coordination that you call for will be not just piecemeal, but counterproductive to the country’s political future.

Anyways, I really like your posting. It’s good to see international aid policy in Afghanistan get such a cogent treatment.

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