Afghanistan Strategy Should Also Focus on Improving Quality of Life

Afghanistan Strategy Should Also Focus on Improving Quality of Life – Stanley A. Weiss, Los Angeles Times opinion.

The Obama administration has outlined a three-pronged strategy in Afghanistan, focusing on security, governance and economic development. But the implementation of those elements has been woefully lopsided. Since 2002, 93% of the $170 billion the United States has committed to Afghanistan has gone to military operations. As the country prepares to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, we also need to focus on providing a surge in the quality of life for the Afghan people. U.S. Agency for International Development workers are tremendously dedicated, but there are not nearly enough of them, which means the agency is heavily dependent on private contractors. There have been some commendable achievements, such as helping reduce Afghanistan’s infant mortality rate and rehabilitating nearly 1,000 miles of roads. Still, as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton lamented in March, the lack of results for the Afghan people is “heartbreaking.”

The Obama administration has pledged a new, improved approach to development aid. Yet USAID has been without an administrator for 10 months, and the president’s nominee, Rajiv Shah, has yet to be confirmed. It’s now time, with the president’s commitment in his West Point speech to “focus our assistance in areas, such as agriculture, that can make an immediate impact in the lives of the Afghan people,” to heed the experience of successful social entrepreneurs who, with far fewer resources at their disposal, have achieved impressive progress on the ground…

More at The Los Angeles Times.