Afghanistan: Reconstruction is in great danger – improvement of the government’s concept is called for

The Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) appealed on Wednesday to Bundeskanzler Angela Merkel to improve the government’s concept for the civil reconstruction of Afghanistan. "A few new police trainers are not going to save reconstruction in Afghanistan", says the letter of the GfbV to the Chancellor. It is shameful for the police reform which is being conducted mainly by Germany if the civilian population sees the police not as a body to protect them, but as a threat. As long as policemen even in Kabul run riot and bring whole districts to the point of fear and panic, as long as corruption, nepotism and arbitrariness are rampant among the security forces, no one can speak of a successful project of reconstruction. There are no structures of effective supervision of the police to ensure that arbitrariness, misuse of power and crimes committed by the security forces are sanctioned.

In view of the escalating security situation the number of recruits to the police is constantly rising and these are being inadequately trained in crash courses, criticised the GfbV Asia correspondent, Ulrich Delius. In their appointment it is often not professional criteria which are relevant, but rather warlords, governors and government representatives, who time after time fill the posts with men enjoying their trust. Ethnic background is often not considered, with the result that further conflicts between the many different ethnic groups are piling up for the future. This is certainly no way to build up a creditworthy constitutional state.

The GfbV called it a "declaration of bankruptcy on the part of the international community" that six years after the fall of the Taliban there are still hardly any signs of reconstruction outside Kabul. In the rural districts of Afghanistan basic requirements are still lacking: people need fresh water, land, work and security – and these are all missing. The process of reconstruction is dragging on so slowly that 2.1 million Afghans fled their homeland in the year 2006. Unless this process is pushed forward more quickly and convincingly there is a threat of an even larger flood of refugees and a further resurgence of the Taliban.

The GfbV has announced a vigil during the special party congress for Afghanistan of the "Bündnis 90/The Greens" on 15th September in Göttingen to demonstrate together with Afghans for a new orientation of the ISAF and the reconstruction programme.