A Brit, Italian, Afghan, and American were floating in a lifeboat taking on water. “We have to lighten the load,” the American yelled. The Brit immediately threw his trench coat into the ocean. “It’s okay, Chaps, I can get another,” he said. On seeing this, the Italian took off his leather coat and threw it into the water. “It’s okay,” he said, “Milano has plenty.” The Afghan stood up walked over to the American and pushed him overboard. On hearing the protests of the Brit and Italian, he said, “It’s okay, Afghanistan has plenty; I can get another.”
Anyone of any consequence in Afghanistan has an American or rather, an American with money. If you are a high level official at some Afghan governmental organization and you need something, say a few armored Landcruisers or a new building in Herat, you ask an American. If the first one says no, you move to the next and eventually you get what you want. This permeates every level of government and there is, apparently, plenty of money.
During fiscal years 2010 and 2011, as of this writing, nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars have been spent through the Commander’s Emergency Response Program (CERP). US commanders at the local level spend these funds (they are the local leader’s American). This, however, is the tip of the iceberg. We American tend to do things on a grand style and, when it comes to spending money, we are certainly no different. And we often spend at cross-purposes. Due to insufficient coordination, one US agency almost broke ground on a multi-million dollar infrastructure project before realizing that another agency had already completed the construction. You can’t blame the Afghan government for taking everything the Americans are willing to give.
The problem here isn’t that Afghans are in take mode; hell, who wouldn’t be with all this money floating around. I’m beginning to think I should start my own country and then apply for US funds to combat Al Qaeda. It’s better than winning the lottery. Anyway, the problem isn’t the expenditure of money; it’s what that expenditure leads to that is the real problem in the long term for Afghanistan. This is best illustrated by the meeting I attended today.
As the first presenter began, I realized that I was listening to an English translation of a Dari presentation of English PowerPoint slides. Huh? The Afghan presenter was speaking, in his own language of course, to an audience of Afghans but the slides were in English. While this may seem insignificant, it is representative of a deeper problem. The Afghan presenter didn’t create those slides; he would have done so in Dari since that is the language of his audience (the International Community in the room were mere observers, hence the translator speaking in our ear). Americans, emphasizing American priorities, created those slides.
Where are the Afghan priorities? Did anyone ask for the Afghan’s opinion? Or do we just assume we know better as if our ten years observation of Afghan cultural priorities and concerns somehow trump their centuries of experience? Of course, Afghanistan is rebuilding after more than 30 years of continual warfare. Indeed, the current generation has little to no experience in running a representative government and their history certainly provides no support for such an endeavor. But how will they learn if we continually do it for them? The old adage about giving a man a fish or teaching him to fish is applicable here. America WILL leave one day. What is to become of the Afghan experiment with democracy if they do not adequately participate in its creation and initial maintenance?
All democracies are not identical. Americans have their form; Indians have another. The British do it still another way. Although democracies certainly have vital similarities, cultural differences come into play when it comes to the exact method of practicing democracy. Why would Afghanistan be any different? An exact replica of American democracy may not work in Afghanistan. Anyone else think that perhaps Afghans might have better insight into the cultural application of democracy in their own country? Perfection is not attainable; good enough will have to do. And good enough means good enough for Afghanistan.
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