BALKH DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL
By Edward Corcoran
June 23, 2016
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
I look over the Afghan situation and trying to envision what could possibly have a transformative impact. There are dozens of very positive programs going on. But we need a program that will not affect just hundreds or even thousands, but millions, something that can energize Afghanistan as a whole. For some time I have been encouraging senior Afghans to issue an Afghan Vision statement, a short and stirring statement about what Afghanistan could become. But words are not enough. We need to have a shining example of real progress. And I am confident that we could get wide support for any such effort.
My recommendation is a development project in Balkh Province. It is a quiet area with high commercial potential, including agricultural, and the Provincial Governor, Atta Mohammad Noor, is working hard to minimize Taliban influence. So it is a very attractive place to start a development project. Balkh also has a significant German presence; I am sure they would support such a project as they have been encouraging Afghans to stay and work rather than flee in despair. A successful development in Balkh could be a model for the entire country, and even for the region, a project that could get Afghans enthused about the possibilities of their own country.
We need to engage the Taliban militarily in contested areas, but bombs, blasts, bullets and bodies are not enough, we also need to build in the quieter areas – that has been the missing element of our overall strategy.
OUTLINE
The Germans have been very concerned about reducing refugee flows into Germany and Afghans are the second largest group. Germany has even proposed spending a couple billion dollars on a new plan for Syrian refugees: Give them jobs, not sanctuary - infrastructure jobs for Syrian refugees in Jordan - see: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/01/27/germany-has-a-new-plan-for-syrian-refugees-give-them-jobs-not-sanctuary/?wpmm=1&wpisrc=nl_wv. In fact, the German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière actually visited the Mazar consulate recently trying to find some approaches, if not solutions. See: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/thomas-de-maiziere-faced-with-influx-of-afghan-refugees-a-1080125.html#ref=nl-international. Germany has recently extended its troop stay and there were also reports that it had sponsored a billboard in Mazar encouraging Afghans to think twice about becoming refugees. So it would seem to be an opportune time to make a pitch directly to the German consulate in Mazar to support a program there to find jobs for Afghan refugees, especially if it was presented as a pilot project to set an example for all of Afghanistan.
I have been working with several people on this effort, including:
- Abdul Ghafoor, a former senior official in the Ministry of Agriculture and now the General Manager of Rana Seeds and Agribusiness Company. He has been involved with Mazar with a soy plant that USDA set up and then poorly implemented. As the Chairman of Oil Crops Growers Association of Afghanistan, Abdul has been working to take control of the equipment at the dormant plant and promote local soy cropping. He has a really deep knowledge of agriculture in Afghanistan and is highly regarded. Abdul is very interested in promoting agricultural development in Mazar (including soy bean production). He is currently in Kabul and recently took part in an industry exhibition in Mazar.
- Jim Frasche. I have been talking with him on Afghanistan for a number of years and he would be a very solid partner. He set up and ran a water bottling plant in Pul-i-Charki for several years and was also very involved in a horticultural effort in Nangarhar. He was in Afghanistan as a youngster with his dad and still has some ties from then and is a strong proponent of Afghan development. The last couple years he had been working on developing aquaculture systems in Denver area that would be applicable to Afghanistan - similar climate. However his efforts to set up in Afghanistan did not go well and now he is involved with aquaculture development in Africa. But he would be very interested in supporting an effort in Mazar. And he has actually been at a major former Soviet aquaculture plant in adjacent Uzbekistan that could help supply an effort in Mazar. He also recommends that we talk with Turkey. They are involved with the refugee crisis too, and are active in northern Afghanistan, particularly in regards to the Turkmens - and see notes below on rail line.
- Steve Rooney is an international consultant on Public Private Partnerships (PPP) and he would also be interested in supporting an effort. Steve was very involved as an Institutional and Capacity Building Advisor to the Afghan rail start up in Mazar and so is familiar in detail with conditions there. He also was a PPP Advisor to municipalities in Eastern Afghanistan where he initiated four start up municipal PPPs, and he developed a manual for implementing PPPs in Afghan municipalities for the General Director of Municipal Affairs. He is now putting out a regular newsletter on PPPs globally.
- Steve Appleton is the key manager of a project by Asian Development Bank to assess the feasibility of a new rail line across northern Afghanistan. The technical part of this effort is by Canarail; the eastern terminus of this line would be in Naibabad which is nearby Mazar city. It is planned to be a transportation hub in the north; as planned and there would be lots of construction opportunities. Steve would be interested in working with us in Mazar and is open to proposals. The other end of this rail line would be in the Turkmen area and so could tie Turkish support into the effort. Pakistan has also been seeking to increase its relationship with the countries in the Central Asian region, in particular the timely completion of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project. Pakistan vowed its commitment for all sorts of support for this project and expressed its high appreciation for Turkmenistan’s offers of assisting it by adding 1000MW in its electric grids to overcome the current electric shortfall in the country. The prospective role and the opportunities encompassed for the whole region by the China-Pakistan-Economic Corridor (CPEC) will also provide Turkmenistan export opportunities in the region and provide additional incentive for it to support projects in northern Afghanistan.
- Paul Stevers has focused on the international telecommunications that would facilitate a significant amount of management support from the United States. He is directly involved with broad efforts to implement commercial applications that would depend on the good communications he could supply. See his main business portal at Think Renewables which focuses on supplying equipment for knowledge delivery systems and has done a lot of work on eLibrary systems that would be tied with communications centers. He has also been involved with a major business innovation center in Toronto and could help set up a similar activity in Mazar. Paul's telecommunications systems would allow much more efficient management cooperation between a manager on the ground in Mazar and overall American support in the US. There could also be regular trips by key people to represent American management support on the ground.
- R. Michael Smith for several years was the General Counsel of the American University in Afghanistan and has wide in-country experience. He is now working for a law firm in the DC area but would also be very interested in supporting a major effort in Mazar.
- Masood Sattari has been the manager of the Rebuild Afghanistan Summit for a number of years. This organization has held summit meetings in California and Washington, DC, bringing together Afghan-Americans and supporters in the states. Masood is managing a Business Center development proposal for Afghanistan that USAID is currently reviewing; it puts an emphasis on accelerator effectiveness.
- Alexander Terra of the Council on Global Relations has been working on support for Afghanistan for a number of years. In particular he has been trying to get support for a Road Map project, lying out steps toward a sustainable future. He has an office in Kabul and has been working with a number of prominent Afghans with ongoing projects in Afghanistan.
- Ghulam Destageer Haidari, the head of the Business Innovation Hub at the American University of Afghanistan, would also be very interested in supporting commercial development efforts in Mazar.
USAID is also initiating a Regional Agricultural Development Program (RADP) - North is to improve food and economic security for rural Afghans in targeted provinces in northern Afghanistan. This program aims to use well-reputed best practices to achieve sustainable agricultural development via agricultural and livestock value-chain enhancements, women’s participation, ministerial capacity building, and investments in the strengthening of small and medium agribusinesses. This sustainable agricultural development program will support the consolidation of licit economies to fuel economic growth and trade capacity; incentivizing local economies to transition away from dependency on illicit opium production.
One approach could be to set up a Balkh Development Authority (BDA) as a PPP between Balkh province and an international management team. For this, Balkh would have to issue an Request for Proposals for an organization to run the BDA and an organization would have to respond and be selected. An obvious first step would be to develop an overall assessment of potential commercial projects in Balkh and work with the provincial government to identify priority projects. A PPP could put together a specific proposal to the Germans for a Balkh Development Corps, something modeled on the Afghan Development Corps proposal that had come out of the office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff a few years ago and focused on job creation. We could also make an approach to the Turks as they are also active in north Afghanistan and also flooded with refugees. I don't have a contact number for the Germans in Mazar, but from the news article, Hayatullah Jawad would be the man to talk with there.
The Balkh Chamber of Commerce was also the only provincial chamber to join in the yearly Business Matchmaking Conferences of the Afghan-American Chamber of Commerce, so we also have ties with these representatives and you may be familiar with them.
So there is a wide range of knowledgeable individuals that could be brought together in a project to make Balkh Province flourish as a model for Afghanistan and the region. Make Mazar Blossom would be our cry, with a similar phrase having a nice ring in Dari, and Tajik and Uzbek. A good first step would be to set up an initial meeting with Atta Noor and perhaps provide a draft of a Make Mazar Blossom decree that could be signed by as many as possible respected local leaders, elders, mullahs, media leaders. Get everyone on board. And work with the governor to draft up a Request for Proposal for a Balkh Development Authority. I realize there are some problems with Atta Noor, but do see him as dedicated to his people and working hard to support them. It seems most traditional Afghan politicians are flawed in one way or another; we have to encourage the better ones to move in a positive direction.
This decree could include:
We are entering a new era for Mazar
We will not let moods and worries elsewhere drag us down
We will not let those defilers of Islam who kill and destroy return to head our country and force their own warped ideas upon us.
We will open our minds and hearts to the message of Allah, His message of peace and love and respect, a message of embracing our fellow man.
We will till the soil Allah has given us, enjoy the bounty He provides us, and put our minds and hearts to building a new life for our selves, our families and our nation.
Our government will respect the Voice of the People, harnessing their words to provide continuous comments, good and bad, on what we are all doing.
We will all work together to build a strong Mazar,
a Mazar where our people treat each other with courtesy and respect
a Mazar where hard works brings a comfortable like
a Mazar that shows Afghanistan and the world how people can take charge of their own lives.
But looking this all over, two things have been clear to our group:
There are indeed lots of opportunities to make Balkh a model for the country
It has to be done by people on the ground. So even though our group could provide support and input, it cannot begin to actually run such a program.
There are tons of opportunities in Mazar to put together an impressive development scheme - for starters the dormant soy factory and another almost dormant textile factory. Ties to the Silk Road international transport network, and efforts by the Balkh Chamber of Commerce to develop trade, including with the existing rail line to Central Asia, also provide opportunities.
