War on Terrorism
Dr. Jeane J. Kirkpatrick
The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
12/05/2003
December 5, 2003
Ambassador Kirkpatrick, a Board Member of the
FDD, moderated a discussion with Ambassador Jawad on the challenges
of constitution-writing and state-building.
Also attending, in addition to FDD Distinguished
Advisor Jim Woolsey and FDD President Cliff May were Steve Clays,
Special Advisor on National Security Affairs to Vice President
Cheney, Mahmood Karzai, of the Afghan and American Chamber of
Commerce, Frederick Star of the School of Advanced Studies,
Ken Weinstein, vice president of the Hudson Institute and AEI
scholar Michael Novak.
Ambassador Jawad has served as Chief of Staff
to President Hamed Karzai. He has served also as his spokesman,
press secretary and Director of the Office of International
Relations. He is fluent in Pashto, Farsi, French, German and
English.
The top ten points raised in the discussion:
For most Afghans, security remains the top
priority challenge.
Economic development is next in importance. There has been economic
progress - Kabul, in particular, is a bustling city, vastly
different today than it was under the Taliban.
At the same time, there is a real danger of Afghanistan developing
a narco-economy, dominated by war lords.
The legacy of communist and Taliban rule remains a problem as
well.
The Taliban and al Qaeda should not be seen as in any way substantially
different. They represent the same ideology - and the
same threat to Afghanistan and the West.
Osama bin Laden is almost certainly living in the tribal territories
of northwestern Pakistan, possibly in Nuristan, in the Hindu
Kush mountains.
Mullah Omar may still be in Afghanistan, though he probably
moves back and forth across the Pakistani border. (Bin Laden
would be reluctant to move into Afghanistan frequently -
he'd be too easily recognized as a foreigner.)
The US effort to find bin Laden does not appear to be as aggressive
as it needs to be. For example, there is apparently no US presence
in Nuristan.
The Pakistani government could do much more to fight the terrorists
based in Pakistan and crossing the border into Afghanistan.
In writing a new Afghan constitution, it will require a creative
effort to strike a balance between modernity - in regard
to the relationship of religion and government, women's rights,
free enterprise and foreign investment - and tradition.
