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Why is America Failing in Afghanistan?

- DR. Abdul-Qayum Mohmand

Analysis of “CIA World Factbook” (1981-2012): Dimensions of anti-Pashtun Conspirac

Afghan Fury at Planned Pakistan Pact
What Happens When the U.S. Leaves Afghanistan?
Trying to leave Afghanistan proves to be as troublesome as being there: A Closer Look
Afghanistan: “It’s Just Damage Limitation Now”
Zero Dark Thirty Review-Analysis; Eleven Instances of Disinformation
Why is America Failing in Afghanistan?
 
 
 
US forces in Afghanistan nearly destroyed vital airfield
We Are Those Two Afghan Children, Killed by NATO While Tending Their Cattle
Former Islamist Warlord Vies for Afghan Presidency
Pakistan releases top Afghan Taliban prisoner in effort to boost peace process
Losing the War in Afghanistan
Obama’s troop increase for Afghan war was misdirected
Afghan security vacuum feared along "gateway to Kabul"
Objections to U.S. Troops Intensify in Afghanistan
The Great Afghan corruption scam
War zone killing: Vets feel 'alone' in their guilt
Was Osama for Real? And Was He Killed in 2001?
Afghanistan withdrawal: The risks of retreat
The Real Reason the US Invaded Afghanistan
The Definition of a Quagmire
Huge Uncertainty' in Afghanistan
Controversial ID Cards Expose Ethnic Divisions In Afghanistan
Afghanistan: The Final Curtain Call for NATO?
Afghanistan After 9/11: A Mission Unaccomplished
Why Should Taliban and Other Insurgents Refrain from Negotiation With the US & NATO? By: Dr Mohammed Daud Miraki, MA, MA, Ph

Exclusive: Karzai family looks to extend boss rule in Afghanistan.

Intrigue in Karzai Family as an Afghan Era Closes
For Afghans, Two Outrages, Two Different Reactions
Double blow to west’s Afghan strategy
Does the Taliban need a diplomatic voice?
Afghanistan: Lessons in War and Peace-building for US
Afghan women opposed by former allies
Q+A - Haqqani: From White House guest to staunch U.S. enemy
Haqqanis: Growth of a militant network -BBC
Afghanistan shelves plans for ambassador accused of fraud
Afghan nominated as ambassador to Britain was accused in US of fraud
U.S. deal with Taliban breaks down
The Loneliness of the Afghan President: Karzai on His Own

NATO's Third Alternative in Afghanistan

On the Road: Interview with Commander Abdul Haq:- The Tragedy of Abdul Haq
When the Lion Roared: How Abdul Haq Almost Saved Afghanistan
AFGHAN WARRIOR: THE LIFE & DEATH OF ABDUL HAQ
Pakistan’s ISI: Undermining Afghan self-determination since 1948
Mineral Wealth of Afghanistan, Military Occupation, Corruption and the Rights of the Afghan People
M. Siddieq Noorzoy
Why Isn’t the UN Investigating and Prosecuting the U.S. and NATO for War Crimes Committed in Afghanistan?
Corruption and Warlordism:
Abdul Basir Stanikzai
In Afghanistan, U.S. contracts aren’t crystal balls, but they come close
The great Afghan carve-up
Anatomy of an Afghan war tragedy
Terry Jones Actually Burns a Qur’an and No One Notices
Q+A-Are Afghan forces ready to take over security?
Guantánamo Bay files rewrite the story of Osama bin Laden's Tora Bora escape
Winning Afghan hearts, minds with explosives
Afghanistan’s Mercenaries
KABUL’S HORIZONS
Who is winning Afghanistan war? U.S. officials increasingly disagree
Afghanistan: The Trouble With The Transition
From the Archives: In Quest of a ‘Greater Tajikistan’
The 1980s mujahideen, the Taliban and the shifting idea of jihad
Afghanistan's Karzai complains about interference
Karzai, US ambassador at odds over private security

Karzai Tells Washington Post U.S. Should Reduce Afghan Operation Intensity

Excerpts from Afghan President Hamid Karzai's interview with The Washington Post
What the Afghans Want
New US approach to Afghanistan insurgency: Vindication for Pakistan?
Putting Some Fight Into Our Friends
Afghans 'abused at secret prison
Why We Won’t Leave Afghanistan or Iraq
Indo-Pakistan proxy war heats up in Afghanistan
Canada’s elite commandos and the invasion of Afghanistan
U.S. retreat from Afghan valley marks recognition of blunder
Five myths about the war in Afghanistan
Marine who resigned over ‘conscience’ speaks at MU
The Afghan media may have grown since Taliban rule ended, but not so press freedoms
Mystery holes and angry ants: another Afghan day
Kabul Bank's Sherkhan Farnood feeds crony capitalism in Afghanistan
Marjah War
Operation Moshtarak: Which way the war in Afghanistan?
Q&A: Why Marjah, why now?
In Jalalabad, hope is fading
Seeking reconciliation, US units meet remote Afghanistan tribes
Once Again, Get the Hell Out! "Ending the War in Afghanistan"
Blackwater Kept a Prostitute on the Payroll in Afghanistan; Fraudulently Billed American Tax Payers
Wild West Motif Lightens US Mood at Afghan Bas
In southern Afghanistan, even the small gains get noticed
 Afghanistan war: US tries to undercut Taliban at tribal level
 Soviet lessons from Afghanistan
Are actions of 'super-tribe' an Afghan tipping point
Taliban: Terrorist or not? Not always easy to say
Q&A: Who else could help in Afghanistan?
Vietnam Replay on Afghan 'Defectors'
Washington's Refusal to Talk about Drone Strikes in Pakistan Meets Growing Opposition
Afghanistan summit: Why is the US backing talks with the Taliban?
Taliban's leadership council runs Afghan war from Pakistan
Why buy the Taliban?
2 Afghanistan conferences: No solutions
An Alternative to Endless War - Negotiating an Afghan Agreement?
Do the Taliban represent the Pashtuns?
Afghanistan asks ex-presidential contender to tackle corruption

Tehran Sets Conditions For Attending London Conference On Afghanista

Pakistan says reaches out to Afghan Taliban
Taking It to the Taliban
The Afghan Taliban's top leaders
How significant is Mullah Baradar's arrest?
Secret Joint Raid Captures Taliban’s Top Commander
What's the Quetta Shura Taliban and why does it matter?
What's behind latest Taliban attack on Kabul? See Images of the Attack By WSJ

Pakistan Version of Islam and Taliban ?????
Lahore fashion week takes on Talibanization in Pakistan

Loyalties of Those Killed in Afghan Raid Remain Unclear

After Attack, Afghans Question Motives or See Conspiracies
Gates: Taliban part of Afghan ‘political fabric’

IG: Afghan power-plant project ill-conceived, mismanaged

Taliban intensifies Afghan PR campaign

Taliban Overhaul Their Image in Bid to Win Allies
Karzai plans to woo Taliban with 'land, work and pensions'
Peace scheme mooted for Taliban
Bombs and baksheesh
But By All Means, Continue the Happy Talk on the Afghanistan War
Karzai Closing in on Taliban Reconciliation Plan
Last Exit Kabul
How To Get Out Without Forsaking Afghanistan's Stability
Afghan Recovery Report: Taleban Buying Guns From Former Warlords

'Jesus Guns': Two More Countries Rethink Using Weapons with Secret Bible References

Gun bible quotes 'inappropriate'
Text of Joint declaration of Afghanistan-Iran-Pakistan trilateral meeting
Garmsir Protest Shows Taleban Reach
Rugged North Waziristan harbors US enemies
The Arrogance of Empire, Detailed ( The Untold Story of Afghanistan )
Appointment of Afghan counter narcotics chief dismays British officials
In Afghanistan attack, CIA fell victim to series of miscalculations about informant
Rebuilding Afghanistan: Will government take hold in this post-Taliban town?
Rare bird discovered in Afghan mountains
Blackwater, now called Xe, in running for work in Afghanistan despite legal woes
How Soviet troops stormed Kabul palace
Afghan children 'die in fighting'
Afghanistan war: Russian vets look back on their experience
U.N. Officials Say American Offered Plan to Replace Karzai 
Learning From the Soviets
U.S. faults Afghan corruption body's independence
Intensify fight against corruption, says Afghan meeting
Afghan ministers cleared of charges
Drone aircraft in a stepped-up war in Afghanistan and Pakistan
U.S. Air Force Confirms 'Beast of Kandahar' Secret Stealth Drone Plane
Kissinger's fantasy is Obama's realit
Taliban shadow officials offer concrete alternative
Talking with the Taliban
20. Ashraf Ghani and Clare Lockhart
'Yes, there was torture and people were certainly beaten': Afghan warden
Why we should leave Afghanistan
US pours millions into anti-Taliban militias in Afghanistan
Pakistan to US: Don't surge in Afghanistan, talk to Taliban
A Plan C for Afghanistan
Finding decent cabinet is Karzai's big challenge
A way to get around Karzai in Afghanistan
Corruption fight boosted by 'Afghan FBI'
US demands Afghan 'bribery court'
Afghanistan plans court for corrupt ministers
The man leading Afghanistan's anti-corruption fight
Win hearts and minds in Afghanistan to win the war
Gates blocks abuse photos release
New U.S. Afghan prison unveiled, rights groups wary
War in Afghanistan: Not in our name
How the US Funds the Taliban
Afghan gov't says UN representative out of line
Cabinet of Warlords
Afghanistan and the lessons of history
Clinton says Karzai ‘must do better’
Recognizing the Limits of American Power in Afghanistan
After Afghanistan election, governors seek distance from 'illegal' Karzai
Karzai was hellbent on victory. Afghans will pay the price
Matthew Hoh: Please refute what I'm saying, we are stuck in the Afghan civil war
As US looks for exit in Afghanistan, China digs in
America's Top Diplomat Tells 'Nightline': 'Not Every Taliban Is al Qaeda'
Obama Can’t Make Russian Mistake in Afghanistan
10 Steps to Victory in Afghanistan
Will Obama change Afghan strategy?
Does the U.S. still have a vital interest in Afghanistan?
Pashtuns and Pakistani
The Afghan '80s are back
Pashtun peace prophet goes global
Afghan Road Builder's Dream Thwarted by Violence
A white elephant in Kabul
The Afghan Runoff: Will It Be a No-Show Election?

Ashraf Ghani- Afghanistan's Disputed Election Complicates U.S. Strategy

On Assignment: Into the Maw at Marja

Patrick Witty & Tyler Hicks
The New York Times


Afghanistan Cross Road CNN


The last frontier


Bruce Richardson
 

Articles

CIA: Buying peace in Afghanistan?

With Bags of Cash, C.I.A. Seeks Influence in Afghanistan
CIA Ghost Money: Karzai Confirms U.S. Gives Funds To Afghan National Security Team
What the CIA’s cash has bought for Afghanistan

Khalilzad: A Satan Whispering in the Hearts of Men
The Afghan trust deficitt
Will We Learn Anything from Afghanistan? Part 1
Getting Out of Afghanistan: Part 2
William R. Polk
General’s Defense on Afghan Scandal Ducks Key Evidence
Afghans want Taliban peace talks
Bombing Weddings in Afghanistan: It Couldn't Happen Here, It Does Happen There
Hekmatyar's never-ending Afghan war
Covert American Aid to the Afghan Resistance; A Top-Secret U.S. Foreign Policy Plot to Induce and Effect Soviet Military Intervention
Afghan brain drain fears as Karzai urges education reforms

US considers launching joint US-Afghan raids in Pakistan to hunt down militant groups

Real security in Afghanistan depends on people's basic needs being met
Intractable Afghan Graft Hampering U.S. Strategy
Former Taliban Officials Say U.S. Talks Started
Taliban ready for talks with US, not Karzai government
Emboldened Taliban Try to Sell Softer Image
Leaked NATO Report Shows Pakistan Support For Taliban
Insight: Few options for Afghan, U.S. leaders after Kandahar massacre
Presenter: Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta and Daoud Sultanzoy, Tolo Television
NATO’s measured exit plan in Afghanistan faces new obstacles
BFP Exclusive: Karzai Clan Attorney Threatens US Journalist, Uses Intimidation Tactics
Afghanistan Chronicles
Arduous path to Afghan 'end-game'
Fear in the classrooms: is the Taliban poisoning Afghanistan's schoolgirls?
A comment on the recent events of student poisoning in Afghanistan
Rape Case, in Public, Cites Abuse by Armed Groups in Afghanistan
Afghanistan’s Peace Talks Hit Brick Wall
THE ANATOMY OF US’S DEFEAT IN AFGHANISTAN
VOICES OF EMPIRE: FROM CIA’s CULTURAL GREAT GAME TO GLOBAL GREAT GAME TODAY
WHITE PAPER FOR THE PERMANENT PEACE IN AFGHANISTAN
King Karzai
A Federal System of Government is Not Suitable for Afghanistan
CHINA AMO DARYA OIL DEAL
Analysis: Where Afghan humanitarianism ends and development begins
U.S. Envoy: Kabulbank Was 'Vast Looting Scheme'
Speaking with the enemy: how US commanders fight the Taliban during the day and dine with them at night
Afghanistan: Operation Enduring Musery
How to Win Peace in Afghanistan
For Karzai, Stumbles On Road To Election
Cruel human toll of fight to win Afghan peace
Criticism of Afghan War Is on the Rise in Britain
Troops 'fighting for UK's future'
Operation in Taliban hotbed a test for revamped U.S. strategy
Covering Crucial Afghanistan Operation
Afghans still skeptical about Obama
US Defence Department struggling with public release of report on bombing in Afghanistan
Afghanistan on the Edge
Q+A: Who are the Pakistani Taliban insurgents?
Afghanistan Past & Present
Bombs for Pashtoons and Dollars for Punjab
Help! I'm being outgunned on K Street!
ANGELS CHASING DEMONS: “Jesus Killed Mohammad”!
U.S. tested 2 Afghan scenarios in war game
America's Top Diplomat Tells 'Nightline': 'Not Every Taliban Is al Qaeda'
Obama hearing range of views on Afghanistan
What Do Afghans Want? Withdrawal - But Not Too Fast - and A Negotiated Peace
Will Obama change Afghan strategy?
What Do Afghans Want? Withdrawal - But Not Too Fast - and A Negotiated Peace
Afghans tricked into U.S. trip, detained
In the Afghan War, Aim for the Middle
Obama pulled two ways in Afghanistan
Obama Can’t Make Russian Mistake in Afghanistan
10 Steps to Victory in Afghanistan
Gates: Mistake to set time line for Afghan withdrawal
Afghans question what democracy has done for them
High stakes in Afghan vote recount
Two Perspectives On Resolving The Afghan Postelection Crisis
Does the U.S. still have a vital interest in Afghanistan?
Pashtuns and Pakistanis
The Afghan '80s are back
How to Lose in Afghanistan
US in Afghanistan proposes revamped strategy
US 'needs fresh Afghan strategy'
US looks to Vietnam for Afghan tips
Lessons from Vietnam on Afghanistan
Afghan Pres. Skips Country's 1st TV Debate
A proud moment for Afghanistan
Rival to Karzai Gains Strength in Afghan Presidential Election
Afghan presidential candidate withdraws in Karzai's favor
America and international law
Hamid Karzai pulls out of historic TV debate just hours before broadcast
Karzai says no to first Afghanpresidential debate
Afghan election: Can Karzai's rivals close the gap?
Karzai opponents hope to beat him in second round
Afghanistan's Election Challenges
For Karzai, Stumbles On Road To Election
Pentagon Seeks to Overhaul Prisons in Afghanistan
Cruel human toll of fight to win Afghan peace
Karzai’s gimmick
Well-known traffickers set free ahead of election
US president sets Afghan target
U.S. Inaction Seen After Taliban P.O.W.’s Died
Why the Pentagon Axed Its Afghanistan Warlord
Earn our trust or go, Afghans tell GIs
The Irresistible Illusion
Running Out Of Options, Afghans Pay For an Exit
We've lost sight of our goal in Afghanistan
$2,000 for a dead Afghan Child, $100,000 for Any American Who Died Killing it
The strategy is sound – but success is not assured
Operation in Taliban hotbed a test for revamped U.S. strategy
Covering Crucial Afghanistan Operation
Pentagon Seeks to Overhaul Prisons in Afghanistan
Echoes of Vietnam
A Response To General Dostum
Obama orders probe of killings in Afghanistan
Obama admin: No grounds to probe Afghan war crimes
US president sets Afghan target
U.S. Inaction Seen After Taliban P.O.W.’s Died
Afghanistan's Election Challenges
The Irresistible Illusion
Earn our trust or go, Afghans tell GIs
Running Out Of Options, Afghans Pay For an Exit

We've lost sight of our goal in Afghanistan

The strategy is sound – but success is not assured
Stakes High in Afghanistan Ahead of August Elections
$2,000 for a dead Afghan Child, $100,000 for Any American Who Died Killing it
Ex-detainees allege Bagram abuse
Petraeus Is a Failure -- Why Do We Pretend He's Been a Success?
Fierce Battles and High Casualties on the Frontlines of Afghanistan
End the Illegal, Immoral and Wasted War in Afghanistan, says BNP Defence Spokesman
Outside View: Four revolutions
Pakistan's Plans for New Fight Stir Concern
France: liberty, equality, and fraternity – but no burqas
 

 

 

 

 

Echoes of Vietnam

Even the Coalition commanders in Afghanistan wonder if they can win the war
Will history repeat itself in Afghanistan?

British military intervention in Afghanistan has a chequered history, making it easy to conclude that British forces will fail again


 


Afghanistan: Lessons in War and Peace-building for US
Source: VOA News By: David Arnold  

Washington - Taliban rockets fired earlier this month on the U.S. embassy and NATO headquarters from across a Kabul street were a symbolic strike against a 10-year U.S.-led effort to stabilize and rebuild a nation devastated by decades of civil war, a Soviet occupation and a Taliban campaign to reshape Afghans in their own fundamentalist image.

For a decade beginning with the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States and Operation Enduring Freedom, the U.S. government has led a major and costly effort to offer Afghanistan a greater sense of domestic security, a new style of governance and control of its economic destiny. The Congressional Research Service reports that the combined efforts of the U.S. Department of Defense, the State Department and USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development) have cost the U.S. government $444 billion.

Afghanistan is a pioneering attempt to rebuild one of the world’s poorest and most conflicted nations. The U.S. learned some hard but invaluable lessons from its experience in Iraq. And like in Iraq, the U.S. faces a deadline on its presence in Afghanistan as well.

The United States has vowed to remove the final 100,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan in 2014. They have three years left to make a durable state capable of growing a diversified and sustainable economy from a largely rural and traditional society whose major crop is now poppies grown for an illegal international heroin trade. Will Operation Enduring Freedom offer Afghanistan lasting political and economic freedom?

The lion’s share of money spent in Afghanistan and Iraq has gone to fighting a war and creating post-conflict security. However, war costs trumped rebuilding. The costs of domestic reconstruction were only a small piece of the total. Together, the Pentagon, USAID and its parent, the State Department, spent an estimated $50 billion on building key institutions for a once-failed state: an electoral process, an army, police force, schools, health clinics, roads, bridges and power plants. USAID spent $12 billion in funds on development.

However, recent studies now report that some of this money was wasted. “We threw so much money at Iraq and spent so much and wasted a lot,” said Chris Shays, a co-chairman of the Wartime Commission for Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan and former U.S. Congressman from Connecticut. “So, we’re not repeating them in Afghanistan.” The Commission’s report cites expensive flaws in the way the U.S. government issues and manages contracts. The group just submitted a report to Congress identifying about $60 billion in fraud, waste and abuse – and projects that are unsustainable because Afghanistan and Iraq either cannot afford or do not want them.

Despite claims of funds wasted or misspent, some scholars and development experts give the United States high marks for the reconstruction efforts, starting with security.

Building a functioning state in a war zone

“The Afghan army and police are becoming a pretty viable and pretty respectable institution,” said Michael O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institution. “I think, therefore, that there are the makings of a new Afghan state which has some degree of centralized control and power over its own territory.”

However, O’Hanlon hedges his assessment with several substantial caveats for Afghanistan’s future security. “Obviously, it’s a weak state. Obviously, it doesn’t control all of its territory. It’s under threat, it has a lot of corruption and other problems but it does have some of the trappings and prerequisites of a functioning nation state.”

O’Hanlon has been tracking for the past 10 years Afghanistan’s state-building process through a post-conflict lens of state-building expenditures that have been borne predominantly by the Pentagon.

Daniel Serwer of the Middle East Institute is equally concerned about the current vulnerability of the Afghan state. Serwer advocates a larger role for civilian actors working through the State Department and other U.S. federal agencies. “We really didn’t try hard in Afghanistan.” He said development efforts were given short shrift. “For years after the war, there was very little assistance.”

The Commission’s final report and findings from others such as the International Conflict Group (ICG) come at a time when Congress begins an annual examination of funding amounts for the stabilization and development both in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The recently retired U.S Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, went on record five years ago arguing, surprisingly to some, that the State Department doesn’t get enough attention when Congress funds such operations. He illustrated the imbalance of funding by telling his audience he could put the entire U.S. Foreign Service on one battleship. He put the number at 6,600 Foreign Service officers.

“One of the most important lessons of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Gates, “is that military success is not sufficient to win: economic development, institution building and the rule of law, promoting internal reconciliation, good governance, providing basic services to the people are essential to success in state building.”

An ICG report calls on the U.S. government to reduce military involvement in humanitarian, development and reconstruction assistance and to improve coordination between civilian and military actors. That point is echoed by others who see advantages in shifting more funds from military to civilian contractors and in some cases, from the Defense to the State Department.

Military as major player

James Carafano of the Heritage Foundation holds that in conflict nations, the military must take the lead. “The right model is when you have a conflict environment and you’re trying to help get something established, the military guys need to be in charge because the overwhelming requirement is security,” said Carafano. “Once you’re out of the conflict stage, it doesn’t matter who’s in charge.”

“There’s no question but that a deployed soldier in Afghanistan who costs over a million dollars a year is far more expensive than civilians,” said Daniel Serwer, the Middle East Institute scholar. Serwer believes that sending in civilians “is not just cheaper but better.” But adds that “This requires a real build-up of the State Department and USAID capacity that we haven’t seen.”

“The United States has relied on its military as a main instrument of its own state building and of its foreign policy for a very long time,” Serwer said. “I think we’re at the point where the extra dollars spent on the military are not as productive as extra dollars spent on the civilian instruments of projecting power.”

The ICG report also recommends the U.S. government shift from their quick-impact military or civilian stabilization programs to partner with Afghanistan’s own National Solidarity Program that promotes Afghan-led community development, places management responsibilities in the hands of more than 20,000 committees that are implementing more that 50,000 projects. That’s exactly what six non-government organizations have been doing with funding from the Gates Foundation, the European Commission, the World Bank and the governments of the Netherlands, Japan and Norway, as well as from USAID.

Experts agree that, in the end, it does not matter which agency takes the lead in post-conflict countries, but how well any manager of U.S. foreign assistance can choose and supervise projects and its contractors. At least, the Wartime Commission holds that view.

“We went into Iraq and Afghanistan unprepared to use contractors, and the military has told us they can’t go to war without contractors,” said Shays, the wartime commission’s co-chair. He was surprised to learn in the committee’s first investigations that at times in the last 10 years, U.S. contractors outnumbered U.S. troops.

‘They are re-building their own country with our support’

The Commission’s report highlights some of troubles the International Conflict Group recently addressed in Afghanistan. Aid disbursed since 2001 “has largely failed to fulfill the international community’s pledges to rebuild Afghanistan,” according to the ICG report. “Poor planning and oversight have affected projects’ effectiveness and sustainability, with local authorities lacking the means to keep projects running, layers of subcontractors reducing the amounts that reach the ground, and aid delivery further undermined by corruption in Kabul and bribes paid to insurgent groups to ensure security for development projects.”

Representatives from several leading non-governmental organizations testified in April at the Wartime Commission hearings in Washington, D.C., that not-for-profits can do a better job in the final three years in Afghanistan and Iraq. Speakers for Mercy Corps, Catholic Relief Services, Save the Children and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) argued that their development model is successful because it is based on experience in dozens of other conflicted countries over more than 20 years. They rely heavily on local communities to propose, implement and monitor projects of their own selection, such as schools, clinics, roads and bridges.

“We take a very low-cost approach, we have a small footprint, most of our staff overseas are the citizens of that nations,” said Anne Richard of the IRC. She said her organization has 400 employees in Afghanistan and 98 percent of them are Afghans. “They are re-building their own country with our support and it can be a tremendously successful enterprise.”

IRC first began working with Afghan refugees in Pakistan many years ago. In Afghanistan, they have partnered with other NGOs in supporting the growth of committee support for schools: teaching parents the value of an education, providing teacher education and getting girls into the classroom. They have partnered with several NGOs investing in development efforts through the National Solidarity Program, whose work had been endorsed by the ICG report.

“It’s true that your NGOs, like Save and Mercy Corps, and others have been in-country and know the culture and depend on the indigenous people to do the work,” Shays told VOA after the hearings.

Shays also said the committee has concerns about how USAID and the NGOs, which do the work in the field, perform due diligence in monitoring the projects. The Commission believes weaknesses in contracting occur in both agencies.

Going to war with contractors

Shays suggested a corollary to the infamous remark by former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to a U.S. National Guard unit in Kuwait, “You go to war with the army you have.”

“If you’ve got to go to war with the army you’ve got,” Shays adds, “you’ve also got to go to war with the contractors you’ve got. And you are going to be a little more lenient for the first year or two,” Shays said. “After a few years you shouldn’t be doing the same wasteful things.

“In the first year or two you cut yourself a little slack. But we have been wasting money continually. So we need many reforms and it will take years, but it will save literally billions and billions of dollars," added Shays.

 

The articles and letters are the opinion of the writers and are not representing the view of Sabawoon Online.
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