Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
April 24, 2008
Pg. 6
By Carlotta Gall
MAIDAN WARDAK, Afghanistan — When Taliban showed up last year in this province just south of Kabul, the capital, and started kidnapping aid workers, it caused real alarm. The main highway from the Taliban strongholds in the south runs through here, and Wardak Province is considered the gateway to Kabul.
A new government agency quickly conducted a survey and found broad distrust of the police chief and other local officials in the province. On closer inspection, only 400 men policed the whole province, but the government was paying for 1,100. The difference was lining the pockets of local officials.
Soon, the police chief was removed, and Afghan and NATO security forces routed some of the Taliban. Nearly six months later, distrustful villagers who once tolerated or even supported the insurgents have come forward to work with the government, officials say.
The turnabout here in Wardak remains tentative. But local governance like the effort here has become one of the most pressing issues in Afghanistan, Afghans, Western diplomats and NATO and American military officials say, and one that could determine the outcome of the still uncertain war in Afghanistan.
Local governance is the buzzword on everyone’s lips, one Afghan development official said, shorthand for extending the government’s presence in the provinces, making it perform better and provide much needed public services. The lack of it is souring Afghans and diplomats on the government of President Hamid Karzai and raising real concerns about its ability to battle the Taliban insurgents who feed on local dissatisfaction.
“We noticed a growing gap between the people and the government,” said Jelani Popal, who leads the new directorate charged with improving governance. “The Taliban filled that gap with the growing insurgency. And the government was not represented well by district governors.”
For Mr. Popal’s agency, the Independent Directorate of Local Governance, Wardak has been a pilot project. But it is just the first of 34 provinces that need to be addressed, at least half of which have security problems. The United Nations has reported that about 20 percent of districts — 78 districts of 376 in the country — remain off limits to its workers because of insecurity and the insurgency. Government officials are unable to go to 36 districts.
Mr. Popal plans to work on 11 priority provinces over the next 18 months, starting with a few critical ones ringing Kabul, where the Taliban inroads and the breakdown of government are the most threatening.
Rather than try to tackle the most unstable provinces in the south, he is looking at a number of the poorest provinces in central and northern Afghanistan, which are showing early signs of insurgency or lawlessness.
“Absolute poverty can create the situation for insurgency to take root,” he said. “We have to take care of it now.”
Prodded by the reformers in his cabinet, and some foreign officials, Mr. Karzai resurrected the agency Mr. Popal leads to oversee the appointments and performance of 34 provincial governors, city mayors and hundreds of district administrators.
Well financed by foreign donors, it has become the great hope of many in Kabul as a way to improve the government’s standing in outlying areas. One Western diplomat described it as the “single most important move” by Mr. Karzai last year.
An experienced manager of development projects, Mr. Popal founded the Afghan Development Association, one of Afghanistan’s best-run nonprofit groups, and directed it for 20 years before joining Mr. Karzai’s government as deputy finance minister.
He says that in the six years since the fall of the Taliban, the government and foreign aid programs have concentrated on reconstruction but otherwise ignored the needs of local people. “They never paid attention to relations of the people with the government,” he said.
This alienation existed all over the country, he said, but had a disastrous effect in many of the provinces in the south and east, where the Taliban were quick to fill the vacuum.
Mr. Popal’s instructions from the president were to take “all the elements of good governance” — accountability, transparency, efficient public services — to the provinces and “bring the decision-making as close as possible to the people,” he said.
With presidential elections next year, Mr. Karzai is looking ahead to his own re-election, and several officials familiar with the directorate suggested that it was part of a strategy to deliver the vote for him. Mr. Popal acknowledged that part of his job was also to ensure that the governors were loyal to the president.
Budgets, salaries, training and logistical support for the provincial governments will go through the new directorate, which reports directly to the president, Mr. Popal said.
One immediate benefit has been to streamline decision-making. For the governors and provincial officials, they now have an office dedicated to their affairs, even if it already seems overloaded. “Before, we were like the sixth finger of the Interior Ministry,” said Abdul Jabar Naeemi, governor of Wardak Province.
The turning point in Wardak came when the government began to deliver on its promises, Mr. Popal said. “The Taliban, when they say something, they do it,” he explained in an interview in February. “They threaten to kill people, and they do it. But when we say we will protect you, we often do not.”
So he made sure the government supplied equipment and cars, increased salaries and paid them on time to the police and district officials to improve security. “We put the government in a very strong position,” he said. His agency also removed several mullahs preaching antigovernment sermons, he said.
Nevertheless, the Taliban still had the edge, he said. People remained “indifferent” to the government, so to engage them, he started to form district councils with representatives from every sizable village.
In Wardak, the task was to resolve routine issues but also to work on how to keep the Taliban out. An early plan to arm the community representatives has been abandoned, Mr. Popal said.
“If the community is organized and not indifferent to the government, then they can make it very difficult for the Taliban to come,” he said.
Yet the plan has not been well received with the elders of the province, who, with Taliban all around, were reluctant to be seen to be working with the government, one provincial official said. So far only four districts have held council meetings, he said.
After nearly six months of work, Mr. Popal describes Wardak as “much, much better.” But nongovernmental organizations say they have not noticed much change, their staff members are still threatened and they are having difficulty monitoring their development projects.
But Mr. Popal maintains that, despite their advances, the Taliban are far from popular. “People don’t want the Taliban, this is fact. But the government should provide more,” he said. “The main problem is the way we are fighting the Taliban.”
He continued: “We should fight with better governance and better intelligence. We have to empower communities to better defend themselves, not with weapons but with organization.”
April 24, 2008
Pg. 6
By Carlotta Gall
MAIDAN WARDAK, Afghanistan — When Taliban showed up last year in this province just south of Kabul, the capital, and started kidnapping aid workers, it caused real alarm. The main highway from the Taliban strongholds in the south runs through here, and Wardak Province is considered the gateway to Kabul.
A new government agency quickly conducted a survey and found broad distrust of the police chief and other local officials in the province. On closer inspection, only 400 men policed the whole province, but the government was paying for 1,100. The difference was lining the pockets of local officials.
Soon, the police chief was removed, and Afghan and NATO security forces routed some of the Taliban. Nearly six months later, distrustful villagers who once tolerated or even supported the insurgents have come forward to work with the government, officials say.
The turnabout here in Wardak remains tentative. But local governance like the effort here has become one of the most pressing issues in Afghanistan, Afghans, Western diplomats and NATO and American military officials say, and one that could determine the outcome of the still uncertain war in Afghanistan.
Local governance is the buzzword on everyone’s lips, one Afghan development official said, shorthand for extending the government’s presence in the provinces, making it perform better and provide much needed public services. The lack of it is souring Afghans and diplomats on the government of President Hamid Karzai and raising real concerns about its ability to battle the Taliban insurgents who feed on local dissatisfaction.
“We noticed a growing gap between the people and the government,” said Jelani Popal, who leads the new directorate charged with improving governance. “The Taliban filled that gap with the growing insurgency. And the government was not represented well by district governors.”
For Mr. Popal’s agency, the Independent Directorate of Local Governance, Wardak has been a pilot project. But it is just the first of 34 provinces that need to be addressed, at least half of which have security problems. The United Nations has reported that about 20 percent of districts — 78 districts of 376 in the country — remain off limits to its workers because of insecurity and the insurgency. Government officials are unable to go to 36 districts.
Mr. Popal plans to work on 11 priority provinces over the next 18 months, starting with a few critical ones ringing Kabul, where the Taliban inroads and the breakdown of government are the most threatening.
Rather than try to tackle the most unstable provinces in the south, he is looking at a number of the poorest provinces in central and northern Afghanistan, which are showing early signs of insurgency or lawlessness.
“Absolute poverty can create the situation for insurgency to take root,” he said. “We have to take care of it now.”
Prodded by the reformers in his cabinet, and some foreign officials, Mr. Karzai resurrected the agency Mr. Popal leads to oversee the appointments and performance of 34 provincial governors, city mayors and hundreds of district administrators.
Well financed by foreign donors, it has become the great hope of many in Kabul as a way to improve the government’s standing in outlying areas. One Western diplomat described it as the “single most important move” by Mr. Karzai last year.
An experienced manager of development projects, Mr. Popal founded the Afghan Development Association, one of Afghanistan’s best-run nonprofit groups, and directed it for 20 years before joining Mr. Karzai’s government as deputy finance minister.
He says that in the six years since the fall of the Taliban, the government and foreign aid programs have concentrated on reconstruction but otherwise ignored the needs of local people. “They never paid attention to relations of the people with the government,” he said.
This alienation existed all over the country, he said, but had a disastrous effect in many of the provinces in the south and east, where the Taliban were quick to fill the vacuum.
Mr. Popal’s instructions from the president were to take “all the elements of good governance” — accountability, transparency, efficient public services — to the provinces and “bring the decision-making as close as possible to the people,” he said.
With presidential elections next year, Mr. Karzai is looking ahead to his own re-election, and several officials familiar with the directorate suggested that it was part of a strategy to deliver the vote for him. Mr. Popal acknowledged that part of his job was also to ensure that the governors were loyal to the president.
Budgets, salaries, training and logistical support for the provincial governments will go through the new directorate, which reports directly to the president, Mr. Popal said.
One immediate benefit has been to streamline decision-making. For the governors and provincial officials, they now have an office dedicated to their affairs, even if it already seems overloaded. “Before, we were like the sixth finger of the Interior Ministry,” said Abdul Jabar Naeemi, governor of Wardak Province.
The turning point in Wardak came when the government began to deliver on its promises, Mr. Popal said. “The Taliban, when they say something, they do it,” he explained in an interview in February. “They threaten to kill people, and they do it. But when we say we will protect you, we often do not.”
So he made sure the government supplied equipment and cars, increased salaries and paid them on time to the police and district officials to improve security. “We put the government in a very strong position,” he said. His agency also removed several mullahs preaching antigovernment sermons, he said.
Nevertheless, the Taliban still had the edge, he said. People remained “indifferent” to the government, so to engage them, he started to form district councils with representatives from every sizable village.
In Wardak, the task was to resolve routine issues but also to work on how to keep the Taliban out. An early plan to arm the community representatives has been abandoned, Mr. Popal said.
“If the community is organized and not indifferent to the government, then they can make it very difficult for the Taliban to come,” he said.
Yet the plan has not been well received with the elders of the province, who, with Taliban all around, were reluctant to be seen to be working with the government, one provincial official said. So far only four districts have held council meetings, he said.
After nearly six months of work, Mr. Popal describes Wardak as “much, much better.” But nongovernmental organizations say they have not noticed much change, their staff members are still threatened and they are having difficulty monitoring their development projects.
But Mr. Popal maintains that, despite their advances, the Taliban are far from popular. “People don’t want the Taliban, this is fact. But the government should provide more,” he said. “The main problem is the way we are fighting the Taliban.”
He continued: “We should fight with better governance and better intelligence. We have to empower communities to better defend themselves, not with weapons but with organization.”