NATO Boosts Afghan "Confidence" in Reconstruction, Diplomats Say
06 November 2006
Alliance ranks high in opinion surveys; Taliban attacks spark outrage
Washington -- International diplomats, meeting in Belgium to discuss the urgent need for Afghanistan reconstruction, said recent NATO operations south of Kandahar have given the Afghan people “enormous” confidence that the international forces are serious about preventing the Taliban from returning to power.
Also, Taliban attacks against civilians and schools have undermined the Taliban’s credibility among Afghans, who continue to hold positive opinions about the United States and the international community, the diplomats said.
Representatives of the United Nations, the World Bank and NATO’s political civilian body met with reporters November 2 at alliance headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, following an informal Afghanistan planning session that also included partner countries that have contributed forces to the country.
Rebuilding Afghanistan is “a noble mission par excellence,” yet its civil-reconstruction aspects often are overlooked in international media, which focuses on military operations, said Daan Everts of the Netherlands, NATO’s senior civilian representative for Afghanistan. (See related article.)
More than 60 countries provide significant donor support for Afghanistan, said Chris Alexander of Canada, the U.N. deputy special representative to Afghanistan.
Alexander agreed with the assessment of NATO commanders that their large-scale military action against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan in September, known as Operation Medusa, has helped set the conditions for stability and reconstruction in a region formerly under Taliban influence. (See related article.)
“The success of that operation injected an enormous element of confidence into the population of southern Afghanistan,” Alexander said. NATO’s “demonstration of will” has benefited “the whole development process in Afghanistan today,” he added.
Afghanistan faces “major challenges” – including a strengthened insurgency this year in four of its 32 provinces – but these challenges are “combined with achievement and opportunity,” Alexander said.
Major construction on road networks has continued despite mid-2006 violence, said Alastair Mckechnie, the World Bank country director for Afghanistan. In addition, in January 2002 satellite phones were the only way for Afghanistan to communicate with the outside world, he said, but now mobile phone networks are available in most areas of the country.
Afghan incomes are now 70 percent higher than they were in 2001, and the “legitimate economy” – outside of the problematic opium market – is growing at more than 10 percent a year, Mckechnie said.
NATO spokesman James Appathurai said more than 90 percent of people killed by the Taliban in attacks in 2006 have been Afghan civilians, a tactic that undermines Afghan support for the former regime. For example, he said, roadside improvised explosive devices (IEDs) killed 519 Afghans in 2006, and suicide attacks killed 205 Afghans. “Civilians are, in fact, the primary victims of Taliban attacks,” the spokesman added.
EDUCATION IS CRITICAL TO RECONSTRUCTION
A Taliban tactic of burning schools has led to “public outrage,” but U.N. envoy Alexander said he is confident “that the pace of opening of schools and of training of teachers is greater than the pace of burning schools.”
Approximately 1,000 schools have been built or reopened in the past year, according to Appathurai. The World Bank’s Mckechnie said local communities increasingly are providing a portion of the funds to open new schools.
Afghan surveys reflect the high value placed on education, Mckechnie said. And, where a local community has a vested interest in its schools -- through resources investment and other efforts – it tends to ensure those schools are better protected, he added.
Typically, surveys also show widespread support for security and reconstructive efforts by the United States, NATO and the international community, Alexander said.
“Certainly there isn’t sophisticated nationwide polling data, but there is public opinion research, and all of it points to some quite remarkable results,” Alexander said. “In many parts of the country, the most popular partner of Afghanistan is the United States,” he said.
Quoting public opinion research, the official said, “some of the most popular countries, the ones with the best image in the eyes of the population are prominent NATO member states.” Additionally, Alexander said, the United Nations, the World Bank and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees also “enjoy very high approval ratings in Afghanistan.”
Afghan political debate makes clear that members of Parliament and their constituents want the U.N.-mandated “NATO-led ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] mission to continue,” Alexander said. “NATO owes a lot of its popularity to the fact that people consider the Taliban a threat … to … life and limb, [and] to their livelihoods. And that, I think, will extend the legitimacy of an international military presence until the Taliban is subdued as a military force.”
A transcript of the November 2 news conference is posted on the NATO Web site.
For additional information, see Rebuilding Afghanistan.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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