The Atlantic – Joshua Foust: Why We Should Focus on Economics in Afghanistan, Not on Fighting
In his column for the Atlantic, ASP fellow Joshua Foust writes offers a new focus for stabilizing war-torn Afghanistan: political and economic security.
If there’s a magic formula for success in Afghanistan, we haven’t found it. Building up tribal militias and local security forces, our standard militarized efforts, don’t seem to be working. After nearly 11 years of military intervention, we’ve learned that developing and stabilizing a war-torn country requires more than just military operations. While military action has its role, what Afghanistan needs is not more militias, more armies, or more fighting — what it needs is more politics and more economics..
Relying primarily on traditional military operations to keep the war in Afghanistan’s chugging along hasn’t worked. Maybe it’s time to slowly begin pulling Afghanistan off of life support — militarily and economically. The only way to ensure the country will be able to stand on its own two feet would be to strengthen its political and economic legs. When NATO forces withdraw from the region, and they will, stability will rest upon the Afghans’ ability to create confidence in the government, lasting commercial opportunities for the private sector, and jobs for its citizens. So maybe that’s where we should be focusing.
