First stop: Afghanistan

Why we are in Afghanistan for the long haul

David Miliband

08 August 2007

/article_images/articledir_155/77936/1_listing.png

The new Foreign Secretary explains why his policy starts there

The first step is to recognise the progress that has been achieved since 2001. A constitution, presidential and parliamentary elections — the elements of a functional democracy. The return of nearly five million refugees. Major improvements in healthcare, in life expectancy, in education and the provision of electricity. Now we need to build on this, not let it slip.

Second, we need always to ensure that this is — and is seen to be — an Afghan project. In London last year the Afghan government launched its National Development Strategy, which forms the basis for all its activity and is the vehicle for delivery of its side of the Afghanistan Compact. Our job, with our partners from around the world, is to work with Afghan institutions to create the space in which Afghans can do just that. We cannot succeed if we seek, by accident or design, to run Afghanistan as some kind of collective international protectorate. We cannot succeed if we seek to prescribe exactly how every Afghan village and valley is governed, how every town is policed, how every law is drafted and enforced. Instead, we will succeed if we help Afghans at all levels shape their own destiny.

Third, we need a comprehensive approach. We need to make efforts to rebuild the institutions of government and the security forces; to provide aid for reconstruction and development; to tackle the threat posed by the drug trade; and to provide military support to give the government space.

Afghans need to be presented with a clear choice: the Taleban threat funded by the drugs trade or our offer of real power. That means alongside troops maintaining peace, training Afghans to police themselves. As well as aid for reconstruction, it means creating the institutions that will protect property rights, enable Afghans to create their own wealth, and benefit through trade. It means creating political institutions that share power rather than just administer things.

Finally, we need to send a clear signal to allies and enemies that our commitment will be sustained, and will be matched by partners across the world. Our work in Afghanistan has brought together a global partnership of countries determined to do something to help, with contributions coming from Norway to New Zealand,

from Latvia to Singapore. We have a shared interest in Afghanistan’s future, and a shared commitment. A stable, successful Afghanistan, at peace with itself and with its neighbours, is a necessary condition for stability across South West Asia. A country true to its traditions and to its deep Islamic faith, but creating its own modern ways of thinking and doing.

The bravery and intelligence of the British soldiers, diplomats and aid workers I met in Afghanistan was immensely impressive. The fact that there are six Foreign Office staff applying for every Foreign Office job in Kabul makes me proud. British people do recognise that it is right for us to be engaged in the world.

The old divide in foreign policy was that the Left believed in soft power and the Right believed in hard power. I believe that there is a new progressive consensus to be forged. Progressive because its goals are to tackle inequality and obscurantism. Consensus because it uses all the tools available and recognises that soft power works best when hard power is in reserve. It is not an imperial project; that’s why thinking local as well as global makes sense in a modern world.