Methods of Engagement in Afghanistan

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Table of Contents

Theoretical approach
Conclusion
References

In a more instinctive manner, there is need to redefine Afghanistan’s security, economy and identity in order to minimize the increasing rate of poverty, tension and insecurity in the country (Kinsman, 2006). According to neoliberal theorists, Afghanistan has lost its ability to pursue self-interests in the international realm.

Evidence derived from comprehensive analysis indicates that lack of human security; poor narcotic economy and identity crises have affected the rate of development in all sectors of the economy. Underdevelopment in the country has been manifested through low gross domestic production, literacy level, low life expectancy, frequent attacks and identity tension. This implies that firm steps must be taken to eradicate insecurity, violation of human rights and economic decline.

By so doing, this guarantees increase in national security, economic growth and identity achievement (Kinsman, 2006). Furthermore, protection of human rights will help to overcome identity conflicts. Recently, economic relation theorists have raised concern on the state of economy, security and national identity in Afghanistan (Manley, 2007).

Moreover, the theories have constantly insisted on the essence of national security, economic development and identity in response against international pressures. It is on this ground that this paper attempts to address and recommend how the economy, security and identity in Afghanistan can be eradicated.

Theoretical approach

From a theoretical perspective, it is evident that Afghanistan has lost its capacity to govern its self-interests in the international sphere (Kinsman, 2006). From a liberalist perspective, every country needs to have a central role to play in the international cooperation. Failure to this, the theorists perceive the state to have lost its power to the core states (Manley, 2007).

Due to problems related to security, identity and economy, Afghanistan is unable to govern its national interest and thus can not offer a direction of its policies without external influence. To some extent, it has become a threat to international security due to Al-Qaida terrorist groups (Manley, 2007. However, these problems have been discussed in details below.

Security

It is apparent that security in Afghanistan has posed a great threat to the economy and identity of the citizens in particular (Ghaznizada, 2010). Evidence has been derived from the fact that the US army has been doubled to ensure security in the country as at 2009. For a long time, the US army has focused its effort in the country in order to eradicate the remnants of the warring groups (Manley, 2007. Frequent wars have left the country unstable for development and as well threatening the international community.

Numerous steps have been made in the effort to increase security. Such include establishment of a transitional government and consultative forums through which a new constitution have been formed (Kinsman, 2006). According to the liberalists, the survival of the country will only be determined by the present state.

An objective has been set on how to defeat armed insurgent and terrorist groups in Afghanistan. It is imperative to note that though efforts have been made to enhance national security, such agenda has been left in the hand of coalition allies and NATO forces (Kinsman, 2006). Nonetheless, security enhancement in Afghanistan requires comprehensive strategies in order to achieve better results.

From the perceived evidence external force from NATO and USA might not make a predominant change toward the current state unless the critical demands of the warring Taliban are met (Ghaznizada, 2010). Liberalist confirms that there can be no improvement in the security sector unless efforts are made to develop the economy and suitable political wing.

In this case, it is perceived that such sectors are likely to evoke violence whenever there is any form of imbalance. Nevertheless, there rose a huge controversy over who is responsible for enhancing security in Afghanistan. According to liberal theories, the state should take a legitimate position in ensuring the security of the population.

However, critics have given their views upon US, UN and NATO role in enhancing security in Afghanistan. Liberalists are against the idea through which the US army uses force to ensure security and protection of human rights in Afghanistan (Ghaznizada, 2010). To them, they perceive this as imperialism of the highest degree. In this case, they argue that great powers tend to assert their power over younger nations and thus they deprive them their self interests.

According to this theory, a country should be set free since it understands its indigenous problems better and freedom from the contemporary challenges lies on the hands of the nationals. For this reason, issue of security in Afghanistan has been of great concern in the international relation realm.

Recommendations have been made permitting the government to delegate some of its responsibilities to international agencies and external military forces. Additionally, commercial and non-government, organizations, should reinforce the government in bearing the ultimate responsibilities (Ghaznizada, 2010).

Notably, we can not ignore the fact that though liberalists insist that the indigenous government should assume the role of fostering security, there are some constraints. For instance, Afghanistan government has been prone to shortage of resources, poor political ideologies and historical needs.

In this case, there is a huge dilemma on how security can be enhanced through such a fragile political base. Therefore, external efforts from the US army, UN and NATO have made a tremendous mark in reinforcing the government to combat insecurity in Afghanistan (Kinsman, 2006).

From a status review, it is evident that the US troops has unlimitedly donated resources in order to reconstruct the country irrespective of several limitations face. In this case, liberalists do not dismiss the role played by the ally groups. Furthermore, they confirm that there is need for there to be an international consensus in order to foster unilateral actions of rebuilding the country’s security.

As mentioned earlier, it is therefore advisable to employ combined efforts where the indigenous government and the international organizations such as NATO, UN and US army will work together to enhance security in Afghanistan (Kinsman, 2006). In line with this, there are several recommendations in which this security as a major objective can be achieved in order to enhance ultimate success in Afghanistan.

One of the recommendation involve establishment of provincial reconstruction teams (Manley, 2007. These teams are essential in ensuring that security reforms are followed strictly. Such reforms include disarmament and demobilization policies. In line with this, such teams strengthen the government’s ability to administer at the provincial and district levels.

Another recommendation is use if international military to intervene and fight against terrorism. By so doing, this will help to establish both domestic and national security (Kinsman, 2006).

In addition to this it is recommended that programs of demilitarization, reintegration and demobilizations should be formulated. Moreover, the programs should be well designed in order to reduce heavy armaments and acceleration of training activities for the terrorist groups. Such programs also help to devise alternative means of training and employing middle-level forces.

That not withstanding, it is also recommended that the country’s national army should be adequately trained (Radek, 2004). This makes them to become more equipped to fight and combat terrorist groups. This also enhances their warlord power over the existing militia terrorists.

The government should also give them incentives in order to foster cooperation. In the long run, it will be possible to achieve national integration and security. Other than international organizations, there are other tools that can be used to ensure ultimate security in Afghanistan. For instance, the non-governmental organizations can be used to enhance a humanitarian security aid that is vital in rebuilding the nation.

In addition to this private sectors can also be used to reinforce the state’s efforts in providing security services and other primal responsibilities (Radek, 2004). It is also advisable to use numerous tools that are diplomatic, economic and military while addressing the problem of security.

International groups have used military tactics that has been successful in combating warring groups. Besides this, they have also used economic tactics such as providing the country with food donations and medicine for the population (Kinsman, 2006).

Economy

Insecurity in Afghanistan has resulted to grave challenges toward the country’s economy. It thus beyond doubt to comment that the economic development in Afghanistan lingers an outlying hope (Anon, 2009). The viability of the economy highly depends ultimately on the presence of a legitimate government.

Researchers conform that the current state of the economy is almost collapsing. It is imperative to note that Afghanistan economic trend is not sustainable to support the demands of the population. The lucrative trade of opium products has been posed by enormous international threats (Anon, 2009). In this case, there exist three categories of the economy.

There is the war, shadow and coping economy and each has its own dynamics. However, it is evident that the economy has been faced by stiff challenges thus making the rate of living to be very high. Since the economy highly relies on farming farmers lack incentives and economic security thus they tend to collaborate with criminals and terrorist (Anon., 2008).

Therefore, they purchase poppies which they later convert to narcotic drugs for sale. After a period of time Afghanistan economy was turned into an illicit one and has been countered by the west. It is important to note that under such an economy, the country has not been able to resist threat from military group and pressures from the west.

Furthermore due to the increased pressure, we can refer to the economy as a “war economy” (Anon, 2009). This is due to the fact that international power holders have always question Afghanistan government for allowing such an illicit economy. Moreover, the nationals put pressure to the government since it was unable to cater for their upkeep. Forcefully, they transited into the illegal economy in order to advance the opportunities for existence.

However, efforts have been made to transform the economy from drug dealing to a more legitimate one (Anon., 2008). That’s not withstanding, transforming the economy is not a smooth sail since it requires a collective efforts in order to enhance better systems of security and development. In this case, there are recommendations that should be taken into consideration in order to eradicate the illicit economy and as well promote sustainable growth.

According to liberalists, a change can not be achieved in the traditional ways always. Therefore, there is need to integrate multiple means In order to eradicate economic challenges. For instance, one of the most suitable tools involves use of economic tactics. Examples of such tactics include providing alternative means in which farmers would generate viable money, provide incentives and enhancing economic security (Anon, 2009).

Moreover, the government should also castigate opium growers and as well the distillers in order to eradicate risks associated with nominal illegality. Establishment of security institutions would also make it hard for traffickers to smuggle the drug. According to liberalists, the government should make the demands of the people to be superior and thus such illegal activities are justifiable since they are means of attaining basic amenities.

In this case, there should be economic incentives that need to motivate people to abandon the illicit activities (Anon, 2009). For instance, diversification of food crop might not be effective unless the government provide the people with infrastructural facilities. The international organizations have played a large part in fostering economic security in Afghanistan in the past 6 years.

International relation has established counternarcotics operations in Afghanistan. For instance, the USD agencies have declared a Jihad for the poppy production through sentiments such as drug control strategies. Instead, the US agency has tried to encourage licit agriculture and this has made poppy production to drop by 37% as at 2007 (Anon, 2009).

However, I recommend that non-governmental organizations to be used as tools that will reinforce the government in encouraging licit farming. Notably, efforts have been made to finance licit agriculture such as availing affordable farm equipments, quality seeds and fertilizers (Anon, 2009).

Moreover, other international agencies such as the NATO have encouraged small scale businesses by providing financial aids in terms of loans. This has facilitated toward the growth of agro-processing and crop exports. Foreign aid and engagement from external agencies have emerged crucial for rebuilding Afghanistan’s economy (Kinsman, 2006).

Due to the fact that the country still remains poor, liberalists confirms that there should be an increased role in which the indigenous government takes to promote economic growth (Kinsman, 2006). Therefore, it is recommended that for there to be economic progress the government of Afghanistan should be autonomous of eternal influence to determine the fate of its people.

Nevertheless, this can be very tricky since the government has been unable to eradicate the peace spoilers in favor of illicit activities. For this reason, no matter how much we try, it is impossible to do away with external organizations such as UN, US and NATO agencies (Anon., 2008). In this case, it is upon the government and international community to come together to foster comprehensive economic growth in the nation.

Identity: The issue of identity has been debated upon in the international relations arena. In this case, international relation has devised tools and recommendations concerning identity as a political problem. In the context of Afghanistan, there exist two components of identity namely ethnic and religious identity. According to liberalists’ view, identity crises are inevitable particularly when a country is at its initial stages of political, social and economic evolutions.

It is on this ground that the international relations aim to persuade Afghans to embrace religious beliefs that are not tied to violent extremist organizations. It is apparent that in Afghanistan there are several religions such as Islam and Christianity. However, Islam has the majority of the population. Ethnic identity guards the people toward their historical and social groups (Phillips, 2011). In this case, different ethnic groups have different values and relations.

From the period of independence, Afghanistan has faced identity crisis even though there are no clear boundaries distinguishing each group. However, different identities in line with ethnicity have been used as a political tool thus creating tension. However, there have been factors that have influenced people’s identity. For instance the central government has played a major role in influencing people’s identity in a way through education and the media (Radek, 2004).

The main goal of the government was to establish a common social identity referred to as the Pashtuns. The issue of identity has given rise to many challenges since there are people who decline to associate themselves to a particular identity. Due to identity tension, some people have denied their own identity and other have opted to keep it a secret for fear of confrontations.

Differing upon a common identity has made the country to lack a national familiarity and thus it become complicated to define Afghanistan in the international arena (Phillips, 2011). It is imperative to mention that by paying much attention on the traditional social groups people have been resented and thus decline to associate themselves to a particular social group.

Therefore, due to resentment these groups waste time in acrimonious activities rather that taking time to develop an identity. For instance, there had been a Jihad war among the communist coup during the evolution of national identity (Radek, 2004). This war caused division among social groups each undertaking its own national duty on its own volition.

However, the international relation agencies have tried to persuade the Afghans to embrace ethnic and religious beliefs that are not tied to violent extremist organizations. To achieve this goal several recommendations can be used to ensure success.

For instance the international community, Afghanistan’s government and non-governmental organizations should encourage education for all (Kinsman, 2006). Through a unified education system it becomes easier to integrate individuals of different identities to interact and thus accept individual differences without tension. In the long run, education will help to weaken ethnic divisions (Narayanan, 2010).

Moreover, it is recommended that international relation should try to persuade the Afghan’s government to increase large number of ethnic groups being represented in the central government (Manley, 2007. According to liberal theory, separate social groups have various demands to make depending on the national needs.

Therefore it is not enough to let few ethnic groups such as Pashtuns and Tarjik to represent other groups (Radek, 2004). In this case, to achieve an identity, there is need for a larger representation by strongly-developed ethnic and religious groups in the government. In a shift of focus, the only tool that is suitable in solving identity problem is the Afghan government. This is due to the fact that it is only the government that understands the indigenous difficulties concerning identity.

Conclusion

Imperatively, liberal theory is the best theories when addressing and giving recommendations to be followed to achieve success in terms of security, economy and identity issues in Afghanistan (Manley, 2007. The theorists conclude that security in Afghanistan has gone past the call for auxiliary international forces to in the country.

However, It should not be enforces by increased armed force against the nationals but through a genuine reconciliation at the national level. This will help in addressing the grievances and demands of the Afghans. On the other hand, regardless of the wavering hope on the economy collective efforts can help to achieve sustainable growth of licit economy as opposed to the vast growing lethal economy. Concerning the issue of identity, Afghans need to identify themselves with non-extremist identity.

By so doing, the country will be able to bear the external critics in the international arena. In a nut shell, problems of security, economy and identity can only be addresses through integrated approaches. Therefore, a combined effort from the government, international agencies (NATO, US, UN) and non-governmental organizations are required to see these problems solved.

References

Anon. (2008). Asia: No quick fixes; Afghanistan’s opium poppies. The Economist, 387(8585), 54.

Anon. (2009). Opium Takes Over Families and Villages in Afghanistan. News for You, 57(41), 3.

Ghaznizada, W. (2010). Afghan Air Force training facilities rebuilt after 20 years. Web.

Kinsman, J. (2006). Afghanistan comes home. Policy Options, 28(1), 58-61.

Manley, J. (2007). Afghanistan: meeting the development challenge. Policy Options, 28(9), 6-12.

Narayanan, D. (2010). Afghanistan: Emerging From the Rubble. Web.

Phillips, M. (2011). An Airline Magazine That Makes Travelers Want to Pull the Rip Cord: Safi Shows the Real Afghanistan, From Dog Fighting to Dry Swimming Pools. Web.

Radek S. (2004). Meanwhile, in Afghanistan. National Review, 56(19), 34-36.

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