Simon Shercliff

A long-term commitment in Afghanistan

Afghanistan is a long-term challenge. Nobody wants to see it return to the forgotten, unsupported, failed state that it became after Communism collapsed in the 1990s. But there is no quick fix for situations with the massive complexity of modern-day Afghanistan.

History, geography, religion, poverty all play a part. We need to be clear that long-term, sustained effort - both military and non-military - will be needed to keep Afghanistan moving forward.

Having served for a short time in Afghanistan, I am convinced that there is a better future for Afghanistan - but it will come at a price, and only after a long struggle. The two or three generations of educated, middle-class Afghans who fled first the Soviet invasion in the late 1970s, and then the civil war and Taliban era of the 1990s, took with them most of the professional expertise in the country. Most of those who are left, now running the country, have spent a lifetime fighting - it is not surprising that they find it hard to efficiently run the Ministries of Education or Health, or cannot easily construct the necessary financial systems to bring money to the villages where it is really needed. 

We and our allies in the international community need to stay there, keeping the violence at bay, and allowing the younger generations to flourish, for Afghanistan to have a chance at something approaching stability. I hope I will have the chance to go back there - firstly to contribute whatever I can to this aim, and secondly to see a beautiful country with a noble and honourable people finally at peace with itself.

Posted at 09:29 14 October 2008 by Simon Shercliff  |  Comments[2]