Afghanistan needs security, not more surveys

4 Comments

• 
  Gregg Willhauck May 14, 2010 at 1:01 pm

  Perhaps, sir, it would help if you actually read the survey I was referencing, as clearly you have not.

  Had the author bothered to read the survey, he would see that, in fact, among the 738 Afghan business people we surveyed, the leading problem cited that thwarts the growth of the Afghan business sector was indeed security. After that, the next highest response rate was for the issues of corruption and poor infrastructure (specifically, lack of electricity), respectively. I don’t know why the author suggests that “red tape” was a leading problem cited in the survey. While it was indeed mentioned, it was well down the list. Again, this clearly demonstrates that the author did not even bother to look at the survey before deciding to criticize it. That’s a shame, really, as the survey results actually reinforce some of the comments the author has made.

  One inference the author made that I cannot support is equating corrupt and criminal “private” security operatives with the legitimate private sector in Afghanistan. To confuse – or, worse, conflate – people shooting innocent civilians with an average Afghan business person struggling to keep his business operating, an enterprise that provides for the livelihoods of a number of employees and their families, is quite cynical and disingenuous. You would be hard pressed to find a single reputable development expert who doesn’t say that sustainable and equitable economic development is key to a successful outcome to the current effort in Afghanistan.

  Rather than trying to sully the Afghan business sector with malicious slurs, I would suggest the author, if he truly cares about the people of Afghanistan, support initiatives such as this business attitude survey which urges the Afghan government to address the obstacles that exist to greater economic growth, more jobs and a higher standard of living for all Afghans.
• 
  Barak May 14, 2010 at 2:36 pm

  Greg,

  I am sorry that you are offended by my comment, but the US government is spending hundreds of billions of dollars in Afghanistan and it has no commitment to winning the war. Unless the military is going to stay until they have marginalized the Taliban, I don’t see how all of these expenditures matter. My comment was not that the survey doesn’t point out the problems in Afghanistan. Rather, I wanted to point out that that the US should be focusing like a laser on security. Again, I did not mean to attack you. My target was the US policy and I am sorry if I did not make that more clear. Nevertheless, I stand by what I wrote, especially about Wali Karzi deliberately weakening the police in Kandhar so ISAF heeds to rely on his private security firms. How can ISAF hope to have any success there if the provincial governor is working against them and ripping them off?
• Democracy and Society » Responding to a critic May 16, 2010 at 3:00 pm

  [...] Gregg Willhauck wrote a fairly angry response to my recent post on his survey of Afghan business people. He had a right to be angry – it was a pretty biting post and I admit that I went a bit over the top. I will stand my ground, however in the policy criticism. That is what I meant to do and I accept I did not make that as clear as I could have in the post. Let me be clear about what I meant to say. [...]
• Democracy and Society » Afghanistan needs security, not more surveys | Afghanistan Today May 22, 2010 at 3:21 am

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