Opinion | Editorials
Money and men are not enough
There is more to resolving Afghanistan's issue than merely throwing money at it.
- Gulf News
- Published: 00:03 June 13, 2008
The one-day conference in Paris, France, on aid to Afghanistan is likely to produce little more than previous conferences on the same subject. Namely, broken promises. Successive "summits" over the past six years or more, seeking funds or additional aid to Afghanistan have always proved long on promises, short on money. Such responses do nothing to assuage the issue, merely prolong it. However, there is more to resolving Afghanistan's issue than merely throwing money at it.
For a start it has to be accepted that even after six years, President Hamid Karzai is president in mere name alone, as there is still much of the country he does not control. Either allied troops are in the provinces fighting battles on his behalf for supremacy over Taliban forces - battles which swing from one side to the other with each passing week - or the Taliban and its supporters have complete control over areas which neither allied troops, Afghanistan's security forces, or even the Pakistan military, have been able to penetrate. Historically, many of these remote areas have proved impossible to overcome - a fact the British learnt a century or more ago, and the former Soviet Union of more recent times.
As long as it proves more profitable for farmers to grow opium poppies and supply the money to the local warlords, then the situation will remain the same. What has to be done is to change Afghans' political perceptions so they see the benefit of a united country with regional and central governments. This is a long, slow process with no overnight miracle cures, as it comes down to education of the people at basic levels. While financial aid and military assistance will help, the real way to solve the problem starts with educating the people of all ages.
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