I don’t often look for political wisdom from NPR reporters but Sarah Chayes is no ordinary NPR reporter. Actually she’s now an ex-NPR reporter and, as her website makes clear, she has developed on-the-ground familiarity with Afghanistan matched by few Westerners:
Sarah Chayes has been living and working in Kandahar, Afghanistan since 2001, when she covered the fall of the Taliban for National Public Radio. In 2002 she decided to leave journalism to help rebuild the shattered country, whose fate will help determine the shape of the 21st century. Currently she runs a cooperative in the former Taliban stronghold, producing fine skin-care products from local fruits, nuts, and botanicals.
Thus when she presents an “action plan” for Afghanistan, it’s worth paying attention. Her plan concentrates mainly on governmental and economic development because, as she rightly points out, creating a working government and peaceful society in Afghanistan is a realistic goal: “For much of the past century, and certainly within living memory (1950s-1979), Afghanistan was governed from Kabul by a well-constituted and legitimate authority, which enjoyed monopoly of the use of force, wielded sophisticated judicial processes, both governmental and traditional, and fostered cultural dynamism and expanding civil liberties.”
To recreate what may be called Afghanistan’s golden age, she offers a number of good ideas. I was particularly impressed by these two:
— One of the most successful international programs in Afghanistan has been the embedded mentoring of the Afghan National Army by US and other NATO military officers. … The United States and its NATO allies should [now] provide trained mentors for government officials, not just at the ministerial level in Kabul, but especially in the provinces and municipalities, where Afghan people experience their government.”
— The political system built under international tutelage since the fall of the Taliban is bereft of effective checks and balances. Temporary, ad hoc mechanisms must be created to provide that function, while more robust and independent institutions develop. Every province or at least every regional command zone should have a joint committee for redress of grievances — a kind of ombudsman committee — made up of representatives from the battle group and PRT, the key donor agency, the lead country political advisor or diplomatic representative, an international law enforcement professional, and three to five Afghans of stature whose integrity and courage are prized by the community.
The whole plan is well worth reading and mulling over.
