Rebuilding Afghanistan: The Diaspora
Role
M. Ashraf Haidari
The Ashian Magazine
10/09/2004
If we think of development as a set of social,
economic, and political freedoms, the vast majority of Afghans
were denied and deprived of these freedoms for over two decades.
We also know that Afghanistan had already been among the poorest
and least developed nations even before the Soviets invaded
Afghanistan in 1979.
However, the extended years of war after the Soviet
invasion completely ruined what former Afghan governments had
minimally accomplished for three quarters of a century. In addition,
lack of human security led to the flight of 5 million Afghan
refugees throughout the world. Afghanistan suffered from a devastating
brain drain sending the country to the bottom of the human development
index. Today, Afghanistan has the highest rate of illiteracy
in the world.
Since October 2001, the Afghan people have begun
a new chapter in their history. They have come a long way with
the partnership of the international community in implementing
and achieving major goals of the Bonn Agreement. A new Constitution
enshrining the values and ideals of Afghans, Islam, and democracy
was adopted and signed by President Hamid Karzai into law in
January 2004. Afghans are now taking bold steps towards realizing
democracy through the upcoming presidential elections to be
held on October 09.
In spite of these major national accomplishments,
many challenges remain that need the sustained commitment, attention,
and resources of many actors. While alerting Afghanistan's international
partners to our common problems of terrorism, transnational
crime, and warlordism—all of which reinforce one another—Afghans
must remind themselves of our own national obligations towards
Afghanistan. One acute problem of rebuilding Afghanistan is
the country's grave lack of human capital. Hence, it is truly
time for the Afghan diaspora to replace Afghanistan's "brain
drain" with "brain gain."
Members of the Afghan diaspora are already a major
actor in the rebuilding of Afghanistan. Prominent Afghan intellectuals
and entrepreneurs have returned home and are actively involved
in public and private institutional capacity building. Other
resourceful Afghans in developed countries should follow suit
to fulfill their dream of helping reconstruct Afghanistan.
Given Afghanistan's comprehensive reconstruction and development
needs in social, economic, and political spheres, the Afghan
diaspora can play a substantial role in the overall rebuilding
and development of Afghanistan through four main ways: 1) institutional
capacity building, 2) business and investment, 3) strengthening
civil society, and 4) advocacy.
I. Institutional Capacity Building
Afghanistan's governance and public-service institutions
are in shambles. The country's general challenge of state-building
squarely lies in reforming, creating, and building effective
institutions to run a modern government. The influx of hundreds
of foreign NGOs to Afghanistan is due to lack of local capacity
to deliver essential services to the people the majority of
whom are yet to benefit from the "peace dividend."
The Afghan diaspora should not sit back and watch
this continue. They should fully participate in the rebuilding
process of Afghanistan by joining key government institutions
in Kabul. This will strengthen the capacity of government institutions
subsequently enabling the Afghan government to takeover the
ownership of the rebuilding agenda for execution based on Afghanistan's
needs not external prescriptions.
The Ministry of Afghan Diaspora is actively working
with the International Migration Organization (IOM) and a number
of NGOs to place Afghan expatriates in appropriate government
departments. According to Manfred Profazi, Program Manager of
the IOM Return of Qualified Afghans, several hundred highly
qualified Afghans have returned home and begun working with
various Ministries in Kabul since December 2001. The rate of
return can increase if the Ministry of Afghan Diaspora works
with the Afghan Embassies in collaboration with IOM to attract
and absorb qualified Afghans from abroad.
II. Business and Investment
Business investment provides the jobs, the economic
development and the hope allowing Afghanistan to break out of
the circle of conflict and poverty. Afghanistan's National Development
Framework considers the private sector as the engine for economic
growth and the role of government as facilitator and regulator.
The humanitarian role of the Afghan diaspora has
to be acknowledged. They have sent millions of dollars to their
families and relatives in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran. The
Afghan Investment Support Agency reports indicate that the Afghan
diaspora's financial contribution to their families and relatives
has jumped from $120 million in 1998 to $300 million now and
increasing.
While continuing the humanitarian role, Afghan
expatriates should take advantage of the very generous business
and investment environment in Afghanistan. By being the first
movers, they will not only reap substantial profits but also
pave the way for foreign direct investment. Unless Afghans with
national ties move in first and build confidence in others to
invest in Afghanistan, foreign investors would be unlikely to
do so.
The Afghan government has now set up a "first
stop shop" investment agency to promote and facilitate
foreign and domestic investment in Afghanistan. Several Afghan
expatriates have invested in infrastructure and communications
businesses including the $35 million-dollar Hyatt Hotel project
in Kabul that benefits from generous tax holidays. Other Afghan
investors and entrepreneurs abroad should join them to help
enhance Afghanistan's weak economy, while benefiting from the
numerous investment opportunities available to them.
III. Strengthening Civil Society
Civil society means all civic organizations, associations
and networks which occupy the 'social space' between the family
and the state except firms and political parties; and who come
together to advance their common interests through collective
action.
There is emerging a vibrant civil society in Afghanistan
and in the Afghan immigrant communities spearheaded by women,
intellectuals, and ordinary Afghans opposed to conflict, violence,
and factionalism that have ripped apart Afghanistan for many
years.
The Afghan diaspora can play a significant role
in strengthening and enabling Afghanistan's civil society at
home and abroad to be an effective interest group against socio-economic
and political ills in Afghanistan. In most developing and post-conflict
countries, civil society is a beacon of hope for realizing the
principles of democracy, human rights, and gender equality.
Civil society can play the same role in Afghanistan to bolster
rule of law and accelerate the overall peace-building process
in the country.
IV. Advocacy
Advocacy is the process of actively speaking out,
writing in favor of supporting, and/or acting on behalf of oneself,
another person, or a cause.
Afghans' cause is the rebuilding of our country
after its complete destruction. The Afghan diaspora will soon
enter its third generation in developed countries and number
over a million. In spite of their multiple causes, Afghans do
not as yet have a single advocacy group committed to lobbying
for Afghanistan. Good lessons can be learned from other North
American immigrant communities: Armenians, Indians, Pakistanis,
Israelis and others—who are using their resources such
as wealth and voting power to bring their home countries' problems
to the forefront of the international agenda.
Afghans understand the importance of the international
community's commitment to rebuilding Afghanistan. Without sustainable
international aid, Afghanistan's nascent institutions will collapse
and the vacuum immediately filled by non-state actors who have
already victimized Afghans for too long. Afghans need to prevent
this from happening again, and they can do so only if we unite,
organize, and commit to promoting Afghanistan's interests that
match the interests of the international community.
While initiating to use the above ways to help
Afghanistan rebuild, the Afghan diaspora should not have high
expectations from the Kabul government to facilitate their role
in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. They should be self-initiative
individually and collectively to lift our people and government
up at a very critical juncture in Afghanistan's history. Once
American President John F. Kennedy said, "Ask not what
your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."
On January 27, 2002, President Karzai echoed the same statement
differently while addressing 3000 Afghans at Georgetown University.
He told Afghan students, "You are the future of our country,
so work hard, study well, make money—and bring it to Afghanistan."
True, the Afghan diaspora need to give to our
homeland not vice versa when Afghanistan is weak and needs reconstruction.
There is a realization that small independent efforts toward
a common goal can succeed in turning a country around. There
should be a concerted and sustained effort on our part to turn
Afghanistan into a model state in the region and the world over.
Together Afghans can do it.
M. Ashraf Haidari is Peace Scholar at the
Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and serves the
Embassy of Afghanistan in Washington DC as Government &
Medial Relations Officer.
