After World War II and the Cold War in the 20th century, the tragic incident of 9/11 was the first biggest incident of the 21st century in world’s history to date. It was not only an attack on important buildings but was a shifting of policies, change in political interests and, above all, demarcation of friends and foes across the globe. It was explicitly a curse for the US but implicitly a blessing for the Afghans. It is never too late: the international community, which was once responsible for the destruction of Afghanistan, finally lent a hand to Kabul. The terrorists’ empire, built on the Afghan land, was destroyed and the Pashtun-Afghan received emancipation forever. The international community and the US realised their past blunder for not restoring peace, the rehabilitation process, reconstruction of institutions in Afghanistan and supporting the then government in Kabul after the withdrawal of USSR forces from Afghanistan. In all these, the holistic role of Afghan President Hamid Karzai cannot be denied at any cost. His second epoch as president is also going to end next year but his wittiness, political vision and protagonist role are awe-inspiring. Since 2000, his imperative stratagems in Afghanistan, his subtle kindred with the international community, the US and with ‘naughty’ neighbours paved the way for prosperity of his nation.
Governance and development in his era are something the region has never witnessed in such war trodden countries. Karzai and his well-educated cabinet were capable enough to give peace and development to Afghanistan. The constitution was also drafted in a very short period, a national well-equipped army and para-military forces were formed and trained, all the warlords in Afghanistan who were once enemies and had killed thousands of people in each group, were favourably befriended and brought under one roof. During Karzai’s two imperative tenures, the overall progress since 2000 in Afghanistan’s development also includes a dramatic increase in school enrolments, from around one million in 2001 to over six million today. There are over 8.2 million students enrolled in school, of which almost 40 percent are girls. In fact, there are more public and private K-12 schools, colleges and trade schools in that country today than ever before.
There has been a significant increase in the availability of basic health services, which were available to less than 10 percent of the population under the former Taliban regime, but are now extended to around 85 percent of he people. There is the identification and management of over 39,000 community-based infrastructure projects such as wells, clinics and roads in over 22,000 communities throughout Afghanistan, through the Afghan-led National Solidarity Programme. The rehabilitation of almost 10,000 km of rural roads was something never expected in the past, supporting the employment of hundreds of thousands of local workers, through the National Rural Access Programme. The telecommunications industry has created about 100,000 jobs since 2001. Some 10 million Afghans today have access to telecommunications and Afghanistan’s national economic growth has also been strong.
There have been two elections for the lower house of parliament since 2001. Around 27 percent of seats in the lower house and one sixth of the seats in the upper house are reserved for female members. From the fall of the Taliban until 2009, 110 political parties were established, which enjoy all the democratic rights more than ever seen in the past 30 years in the country. The Taliban suppressed freedom of speech but the people elected government now let the Afghan people have access to over 400 print media publications, 150 FM radio stations and 26 television channels. These give Afghanis an outlet to discuss publicly issues that were previously off-limits, such as human rights abuses and women’s rights.
Afghanistan’s national security forces have now accumulated a decade of training and mentoring. At this very moment, the Afghan security forces are being educated locally and some groups are being sent abroad for more advanced training in India, Turkey, the UAE, Europe, and the US. This training comes from some of the world’s best forces, which also provided aid in major defence related acquisitions to build their capabilities. As a result of this robust development, the number of security forces, to include the Afghan National Army (ANA) and National Police (ANP), have increased from several thousand disenfranchised individuals in 2001 to well over 300,000 professional soldiers and police today according to NATO’s International Security Assistance Force. In addition, women have been integrated into these forces at all levels and are now training other women. Suffice it to say that the capacity and capability of the Afghan security forces has dramatically improved from a decade ago. According to the US State Department, 75 percent of the Afghan population’s security is in the hands of the ANA and ANP today, with plans of securing their country in entirety by 2014.
Public works projects included reconstruction of bridges, highways, local roads and irrigation systems as well as redevelopment of government institutions and capacity building of its work force. Capacity building of locals is beginning to show positive results with less dependence on international mentors. Today, an ever-increasing number of locals are taking leadership roles in both the private and public sectors. Remarkably, a mammoth number of the skilled and unskilled labourers from Pakistan have now been travelling to Afghanistan in search of better jobs. In addition, the work force is more balanced, with reintegration of women into government institutions to include security forces, hospitals and schools, as well as private industries. The World Bank estimates Afghan GDP growth from under $ 2.5 billion in 2001 to well over $ 17 billion by the end of 2011. Increased levels of security and commerce attracted additional investments into the growing economy.
All these developments, which in other words stand for ‘peace’ in Afghanistan, started from zero and relief to development and now progress. The big achievements in the country merely became possible through the visionary politics of President Karzai. Karzai deserves to be titled ‘Ahmad Shah Sani’ after the great Ahmad Shah Durrani who integrated all the Afghans and founded present Afghanistan.
The author is a US based Pakistani journalist, currently studying media in the US. He can be reached at [email protected]