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The U.S. is undergoing a very large series of changes in our view in the way foreign
aid will be granted for international development. Good aid systematically extends the autonomy
of individuals. Unless you empower each Afghan citizen, the
exit strategy will not work for the international community.
My message to donor community in Afghanistan is not to focus only on the delivery of the
resources, but also to check and control where the resources are going. If they provide
the opportunities for those Afghans to work for the government of Afghanistan, I strongly
believe this development will take place faster and cheaper. The resources do not go out
of the country, it remains within the country.
Recognize grassroots initiatives and provide them a system to access without unnecessary
bureaucracy, access them some funds, continue supporting Community Development Councils
because the National Solidarity Program paved a way for a great development effort across
the country. It’s worth it, so please pay enough attention to listening to the people.
It may help the donors as well to focus on Afghanistan as an independent unit or political
unit rather than just a tribal structure.
Afghans do share a common identity in the sense that they have shared as a nation the
same experiences. Not only over the past 30 years, but over the past at least couple
of hundred years since the establishment of modern Afghanistan in 1747.
Afghan civil society is in fact vibrant and flourishing, but it’s in some people’s
heads you can’t have a civil society in an Islamic country which is not true. You
can. And Afghanistan has always had a flourishing civil society. For Afghans, their identity
is very much bound up with the cultural side of things, with poetry, with music, with theater,
and these things are as important as the political side of things, and this is flourishing again.
And certainly in the cities and to some extent outside.
There is the general belief that local mullahs, the religious leaders, are against the development
efforts and are against Westerners. That’s not my experience. I’ve seen dozens of
mullahs in dozens of villages of Afghanistan and my feeling is that the people are quite
dedicated to serving their communities and they would like to participate in the development
efforts if they would be given a chance. But sometimes we just bring our own ideas
and we forget to check on the ground how the civil society works there.
I don’t think the publics outside Afghanistan are to blame for the inadequate or incomplete
picture that they get from Afghanistan. I think it is to a degree the fault of the
Western media coverage on Afghanistan. I think it is dramatic. I think it is exciting,
it’s interesting to focus on the negative, on the bad, on the explosions, on the casualties.
We need to really respond to that and create correct information in the media for the populations
of these (Western) countries so that they do know what is Afghanistan, what’s is population,
what’s the makeup, who’s there, you know, who are the Taliban, what is the fight about?
So that then these populations can make a very learned decision. I’m sure if they
know the correct information they would be with us Afghans.
A better future is very possible for Afghanistan. I would say that there is a new generation
of Afghans who have the commitment, who have the drive, who have the passion but also who
have the qualifications to build a stable, democratic, just Afghanistan.
I want Afghanistan to have its authentic Afghan identity in the world made by Afghans, both
men and women, where we can feel proud of who we are and what we make and what we give
to the world. True, we’ve been through many many years of struggles, but it’s about
time that Afghans take the power in their hands to build a future, build a tomorrow
for themselves that they can then pass on to their children and say this is the country
that we’ve created for you.