Tuesday
Jul142009
Afghanistan Needs Central Ministry For Economic Development, Say Experts
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 5:06PM
By Mariko Lamb- Talk Radio News Service
The U.S. should help establish the Afghan government with a strong, central role and align international donor efforts around priorities of the legitimized Afghan government, according to a number of foreign policy experts who met with the House Committee on Oversight and Governmental Reform Tuesday.
Jeremy Pam, Research Scholar for Sustainable Development at the U.S. Institute of Peace, said the U.S. must help “marry up the formal governmental structure with whatever capacity exists in Afghanistan, whether it is at the formal or informal level.”
Pam said that improving the legitimacy of the Afghan government requires the U.S. to help Afghans “implement their priorities through their institutions despite the many frustrations and inefficiencies of such an approach." He said that although the government may incur some loses, it is the price that must be paid for optimal improvement in the Afghan economy.
“The money has to go through the institutions with us on the outside helping the institutions work, rather than going through us on the outside providing the benefits to the Afghans,” he said, demoting fragmented efforts by NGOs that work parallel to the Afghanistan government rather than inside the institution itself.
The panel agreed that a central ministry in Kabul with NGO implementation at the village level would be the best system of economic development in Afghanistan. The specific manner of its implementation, however, was not discussed.
The U.S. should help establish the Afghan government with a strong, central role and align international donor efforts around priorities of the legitimized Afghan government, according to a number of foreign policy experts who met with the House Committee on Oversight and Governmental Reform Tuesday.
Jeremy Pam, Research Scholar for Sustainable Development at the U.S. Institute of Peace, said the U.S. must help “marry up the formal governmental structure with whatever capacity exists in Afghanistan, whether it is at the formal or informal level.”
Pam said that improving the legitimacy of the Afghan government requires the U.S. to help Afghans “implement their priorities through their institutions despite the many frustrations and inefficiencies of such an approach." He said that although the government may incur some loses, it is the price that must be paid for optimal improvement in the Afghan economy.
“The money has to go through the institutions with us on the outside helping the institutions work, rather than going through us on the outside providing the benefits to the Afghans,” he said, demoting fragmented efforts by NGOs that work parallel to the Afghanistan government rather than inside the institution itself.
The panel agreed that a central ministry in Kabul with NGO implementation at the village level would be the best system of economic development in Afghanistan. The specific manner of its implementation, however, was not discussed.
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