Integrity Score 380
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Progress and Pitfalls of “Peace-Building”
in Afghanistan continues....
The Afghanistan Action Plan on Peace, Justice and Reconciliation is
20 the measure which most directly aims to strengthen peace. It contains a
programme for the acknowledgement of the suffering of Afghan people;
reforming state institutions and purging them of human-rights violators
and criminals; truth seeking and documentation; promotion of national
unity and reconciliation; and the establishment of mechanisms for
accountability.
This programme has significant potential, but was only formally launched in December 2006 and is notably absent from the Afghan government’s paper of January 2007. It is only briefly referred to
21 in the JCMB Annual Report of 1 May 2007.
Variable progress has been
made on institutional reform. The proposal for mechanisms of accountability has been brought into question by recent moves on the part of the National Assembly to grant legal protection to former Mujahideen and others who have committed war crimes.
The Action Plan covers the peace and reconciliation messages in the national education curriculum but contains little which will have a direct impact on ordinary Afghans.
The government of Afghanistan has established an Independent
Commission on Strengthening Peace to promote dialogue with
combatants, and through which current and former combatants can
renounce violence and engage in lawful political activities.
International organisations and foreign diplomats are also engaged in such efforts.
Separately, the Afghan government also facilitates a peace Jirga involving
tribal leaders from both southern and south-eastern Afghanistan, and
northern Pakistan. In Afghanistan, attempts to reduce tensions and
mutual suspicions are low. Attempts at demilitarization which composes
of force-reduction, demobilization and reintegration of ex-combatants
into the society have achieved limited success.
“Freedom from fear” is a
concern in several provinces and the fiercely intensified insurgency causes
harm to the lives, livelihoods of the average Afghan. Fear is widespread in
many areas of the country and personal security has been a ‘core concern’
for those living in insurgency affected zones. Since early 2006, insurgency
has claimed more Afghan civilians lives’ than soldiers and police.
To be continued....