Progress and Pitfalls of “Peace-Building”

in Afghanistan continues ....

Seven years after the Bonn Agreement, opinions differ as to whether the western model of Afghanistan state–building is approaching unheralded success or tragic failure. Afghanistan faces tremendous political, administrative, social and economic challenges. Apart from relative

stability and completion of the Bonn process, there are certain other significant positive developments. Nonetheless, these achievements may prove short–lived if donor, government and public support falter during the next several critical years of transition. This initial stage of transition has been very difficult, with both donors and the Afghan government

struggling to define their roles and responsibilities for a long-term

development initiative.

The end of violent conflict has to be accompanied by the rebuilding

of physical infrastructure and the restoration of essential government functions that provide basic social services. In the long–run, peacebuilding and stability cannot be achieved without the participation of

former adversaries in a suitable political process and socio-economic reform. Most reconstruction programmes rely heavily on “democratic”

institution-building and economic recovery through market forces. It is assumed that peace building process ends with the establishment of a new government along with an economic recovery package. Not much analysis has been conducted as to how institution-building and political transitions are undermined by the lack of social and economic foundations.

While establishing a stable government at the centre is important, not enough attention has been paid to the local, political and

social context. The current situation in Afghanistan is reflective of the

above discourse. The main argument in today’s analysis of the peacebuilding process in Afghanistan establishes the fact that failing to provide solutions to the root causes of the problems that generate the war allows new conflict dynamics to undermine the search for perpetual peace

To be continued...