Step 1: Decentralize Afghanistan

[JarodParker]

I also agree with IntelTrooper and Entropy. A while back I posted a comment on another forum expressing my concern that we might not be able to accomplish our mission of establishing a strong self-sustaining central government in Afghanistan because the people don’t have the sense of national identity that we westerners have. That kind of national identity has to be developed organically over a very long period of time and cannot be forced upon nor gifted to. In fact I think a western style national identity is the exception and not the norm in former colonial territories where the borders were drawn across tribal lines haphazardly by departing European powers.

My vote is for a bunch of semi-autonomous states which are loosely linked by a central government that can coordinate matters of “collective security.” Undoubtedly as Uboat suggested somebody will try to seize power but that’s when these semi-autonomous states come together.

Just my 2 cents.

[Ron Humphrey]

Just a couple of points to consider

First as it is even today exactly who has the most authority or leadership role in most provinces.
Why or through what means

Second what would you call the "political" maneuvering being done by Karzai to consolidate support for his candidacy with those leaders in mind.


And third it may be very important to define exactly who is in competition with who for what roles (in Afghan contexts) and what actually is the role of any outside parties in helping to facilitate a more long standing and (friendly to our interests) outcome in that competition.

Just thinking out loud that while your on the right track it may just be that their tracking with you more than you might think.

[Christian]

I wrote about this issue here, if you want the whole argument. I don't feel like any identity is being pushed on Afghans by outsiders, but certainly a centralized government is (but contrary to popular opinion, certain Afghan rulers have had an effective level of control over the countryside). As it is, much of the tenants of centralize rule are on paper only.

I was in a lecture by an Afghan PhD who argued for devolved power. Some of the NGO set in the crowd objected at the end with the "what about the warlords?" argument. They are actually partly right, the rural elite these days is not as accountable to its constituents as it once was.

I would argue that at the moment people are still most threatened by people in and near their communities than by the central government. So if there is to be decentralization, it needs to be a gradual process. The National Solidarity Program is probably a good start.