Increasing Efforts in Afghanistan

Published in Dagsavisen
(Norway) on 3 April 2009
by KJETIL ELSEBUTANGEN (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Ramon Broers. Edited by .
The United States sends an abundance of soldiers to Afghanistan and demands that its allies commit the same. Norway answers by providing more monetary support.

Strasbourg (Dagsavisen): Several signs indicate that the Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg will announce increased Norwegian efforts in Afghanistan this afternoon, even though no one would officially confirm this yesterday. Most probably, this does not mean an increased military presence, rather monetary assistance and/or increased support for the training of domestic Afghan army and police forces. This will be Norway’s answer to America’s new president Barack Obama, who has put pressure on his allies to increase their efforts in the war torn country.

Today and tomorrow, Stoltenberg will meet Obama and leaders from other NATO countries during the alliance’s summit meeting. Norway assists with approximately NOK 750 million each year in civil support to Afghanistan, in addition to 600 Norwegian soldiers for the NATO-led ISAF force.

The UN’s Special Representative to Afghanistan, Norwegian Kai Eide, has proposed that the NATO members switch their support from the units that do reconstruction work (PRT) to Afghan programs with smaller budgets. Today, it is notable that 80 percent of the total assistance provided to the country is channeled through foreign groups.

NEW STRATEGY

Obama comes to the NATO summit with a new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan which includes both more soldiers and more civil support. Afghanistan expert and researcher at the Chr. Michelsen Institute, Astri Suhrke, believes that Obama’s strategy is risky and that the Norwegian government should use the summit to lower NATO’s expectations to the new strategy.

“Norway should bring a more realistic view to the debate. This is a capital-intensive strategy which purports sending a great number of civilian workers and civil support. This will increase the problem of corruption. At the same time, it will become more difficult for foreign aid workers to operate in Afghanistan. They sit in offices with bomb safe doors and will not be able to work in the field,” Suhrke states.

Corruption is a substantial problem in Afghanistan, and the international community has expressed serious criticism of President Hamid Karzais’ lack of attention to the issue.

CLIENT STATE
Suhrke is also skeptical to America’s goal of establishing an effective and durable state merely to prevent al-Qaeda and the Taliban from plotting more terrorist attacks, instead of focusing on establishing a democratic Afghan state. “Such a state will become so reliant on international military and civil support that it will be a de facto client state. The government will consequently be more prone to listen to the international community instead of its own population. This will result in a fragile stability. There will be an inherent conflict between the end and the means,” Suhrke says and uses the planned expansion of the Afghan army from 80,000 to 134,000 soldiers as an example. “Afghanistan cannot finance this themselves. They are reliant on outside support. And in this scenario the army will be perceived as an instrument of foreign powers. What kind of legitimacy will that create,” she asks.

MILITARY EXPANSION
Obama has made it abundantly clear that he will focus all efforts on demolishing the terror-threat posed by al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Accordingly, he will expand the military, and send 21,000 American soldiers to the country in increments. At the same time, the United States pushes for an increased military commitment by the other NATO members. Moreover, NATO leaders have incessantly asked for 4000 extra soldiers to South Afghanistan for four months, in order to provide safe elections 20 August.

It is expected that some countries will answer the American request during the summit today and tomorrow. But most of the allies, including Norway, already feel that they have made a very strong commitment and will not meet the request easily.


USA pøser på med flere soldater i Afghanistan og krever at de andre allierte også øker sin innsats. Norge svarer med mer pengestøtte.
STRASBOURG (Dagsavisen): Flere signaler tyder på at statsminister Jens Stoltenberg (Ap) i ettermiddag vil kunngjøre økt norsk innsats i Afghanistan, selv om ingen ville bekrefte dette offentlig i går. Det dreier seg trolig ikke om flere soldater, men om mer sivil bistand og/eller økt støtte til opplæring av den afghanske hæren og politiet. Det blir i så fall Norges svar til USAs nye president Barack Obama, som har lagt press på sine allierte for å øke innsatsen i det krigsherjede landet.

Stoltenberg møter Obama og de andre NATO-landenes ledere på alliansens jubileumstoppmøte i dag og i morgen. Norge bidrar med rundt 750 millioner kroner årlig i sivil bistand til Afghanistan, i tillegg til de rundt 600 norske soldatene i den NATO-ledede ISAF-styrken.

FNs spesialutsending til Afghanistan, nordmannen Kai Eide, har tatt til orde for at NATO-landene bør vri sin støtte over fra styrker som driver utviklingsarbeid (PRT) til afghanske programmer med små budsjetter. I dag går nemlig 80 prosent av den samlede støtten til landet utenom afghanske kanaler.

NY STRATEGI
Obama kommer til NATO-toppmøtet med en ny strategi for Afghanistan og Pakistan bestående av både flere soldater og mer sivil støtte. Afghanistan-kjenner og forsker ved Chr. Michelsen institutt Astri Suhrke mener Obamas strategi er risikabel, og at den rødgrønne regjeringen burde bruke toppmøtet til å dempe NATOs forventinger til hva som kan komme ut av den nye strategien.

– Norge burde bringe mer realisme inn i debatten. Dette er en kapitalintensiv strategi der man skal sende inn massevis av sivile arbeidere og sivil støtte. Det øker problemene med korrupsjon. Samtidig blir det stadig vanskeligere for utenlandske bistandsarbeidere å operere i Afghanistan. De sitter inne på kontorer bak bombesikre dører og kommer seg ikke ut, sier Suhrke.
Korrupsjon er et betydelig problem i Afghanistan, og det er en utbredt misnøye i det internasjonale samfunnet med president Hamid Karzais innsats på dette området.

KLIENTSTAT
Suhrke er også skeptisk til at USA ikke lenger ser det som et mål å skape en afghansk, demokratisk stat, kun en effektiv og stabil stat som ikke gir al-Qaida og Taliban rom til å planlegge nye terrorangrep mot USA og dets allierte.
– En slik stat blir så avhengig av internasjonal militær og sivil støtte at det blir en klientstat. Myndighetene vil ha lettere for å lytte til det internasjonale samfunnet og utenlandske donorer enn til sin egen befolkning. Det svekker stabiliteten. Man bygger inn en motsetning mellom mål og middel, sier Suhrke, og trekker fram den planlagte utvidelsen av den afghanske hæren fra 80.000 til 134.000 soldater som eksempel.
– Afghanistan har ikke penger til dette selv. De er avhengig av midler utenfra. Men da får man en hær som vil bli sett som et instrument for utenlandske interesser. Hva slags legitimitet vil den få, spør hun.

MILITÆR OPPTRAPPING
Obama har gjort det klinkende klart at han vil sette alle krefter inn på å knuse terrortrusselen fra al-Qaida og Taliban. Han vil derfor trappe opp militært, og skal i tiden framover sende 21.000 nye amerikanske soldater.
Samtidig presser USA på for at andre NATO-land også skal øke sine militære bidrag. NATOs ledelse har dessuten bedt innstendig om 4.000 ekstra soldater til Sør-Afghanistan i fire måneder for å sikre gjennomføringen av valget 20. august.
Det er ventet at noen land vil svare på utfordringen under toppmøtet i dag og i morgen. Men de fleste allierte, inkludert Norge, føler allerede de har strukket seg langt, og kvier seg for å love flere soldater.
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  1. money down the drain.

    afghan cannot be anything but what it was.

    ranked almost first in corruption in the world.

    we will leave with our tails between our heads.

    it will be obama’s vietnam.

    he is following the same strategy as LBJ.

    his advisors the military. no conflict of interest there?

    when will americans learn their military might cannot change a country if it is not ready to change.

    we did not learn our lesson from nam.

    maybe this time we will.

    economic decline is the only thing americans listen to.

    the shop till you drop culture takes economic decline very hard maybe even enough to stop their imperialism.

    as an american it is very sad to watch your country self destruct.

    hope will not change a mentality of greed and arrogance.