Reconstructing Afghanistan: Priorities and Challenges

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Soldiers from Task Force Pacemaker provided the comfort items. (Department of Defense)

Conclusions

Reconstruction in Afghanistan will proceed at many levels, including financing from the international community and implementation by both international and local non-governmental organizations as well as the interim government itself. The key to success will be the level to which ideas and capabilities of the Afghan population are involved as well as the level of cooperation across the different international actors.

The pressing urge of major donors is to focus on micro-level interventions that are resilient to the continued political changes that Afghanistan is likely to experience in the near future. Focusing on this level is likely to provide the most significant assistance to the broadest numbers of the needy. These can include: increasing food production through individual farmers, irrigation projects, animal banks, animal vaccines, seed multiplication programs, high-yield seeds, and high-yield agricultural techniques. The challenge of reconstruction remains difficult, however the commitment of the international community together with the Afghan diaspora and with the cooperation of local groups has to be sustained in order for the lives of ordinary Afghans to improve.