Afghan president maintains focus on reconstruction

Camelia Entekhabi-Fard 10/01/02

Afghan President Hamid Karzai traveled to the Persian Gulf in late September to drum up aid for his country's reconstruction and security. The trip underscored how hard Karzai needs to work to persuade foreign donors and domestic politicians that he is setting the country on the right track. The president talked to EurasiaNet about his outreach in the region and his urgency about getting reconstruction projects started.

Though most geopolitical observers are analyzing a possible American-led invasion of Iraq, Karzai – whose bankrupt country is in desperate need of foreign aid – says he steered discussion toward Afghanistan's economic and security crisis. "We discussed a number of issues with other leaders, including regional issues," the president told EurasiaNet on September 27. "But reconstruction was the main topic of discussion in this visit. We focused on it in our talks with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates." Despite Karzai's famously cool demeanor, these cannot have been smooth discussions. Apart from Pakistan, the Emirates and Saudi Arabia were the only countries on earth to recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan's legitimate government before September 2001. Saudi Arabia has pledged money for Afghan reconstruction but, as is the case with many countries, has not shown Afghan citizens how that pledge translates to jobs and roads. "Our people hear every day, Saudi Arabia wants to pay $50 million, and the United States has paid this and that millions," Karzai said. "But they cannot see any changes."

Mohammed Aref, who heads Afghanistan's intelligence services, says that these countries' lack of urgency with aid could become a political liability for the president. "If reconstruction doesn't start quickly, soon, people cannot trust Karzai and his new government anymore," Aref told EurasiaNet. "He has a large civilian base, but he could lose it if he cannot deliver on his promises soon." Aref's remarks underscore the delicate position Karzai must take when he approaches foreign governments. Though he fought against the Taliban, Karzai was not close to the ethnically Tajik leaders of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance. While these Northern Alliance veterans make up the bulk of Karzai's cabinet, they have not totally reinvented themselves as civilian bureaucrats. They command their own loyalties – reports have said that Aref himself is loyal to Defense Minister Mohammed Qasim Fahim – and some observers have wondered whether they can fully line up behind Karzai, an ethnic Pashtun. So Karzai has to persuade other presidents that he can hold Afghanistan's factions together long enough to make reconstruction a good investment.

Aref implied that Karzai's advisors, many of whom studied in the West, lack an understanding of their boss' fragility. "Those young educated Afghan persons who come from the West and take over important positions don't know the reality in Afghanistan," he said. "What they must realize is that they have position and power because our people give it to them and they could take it back again." It is too early to tell whether Aref's remarks reveal a broad split between Western-educated Afghans and Afghans who never left, or whether this split will affect Karzai's ability to manage his cabinet. It is true that the mingling of Afghans who fought in the past 23 years with ones who have never known Afghanistan at war presents Karzai with yet another management challenge. "One looks at some individual who did little or nothing during the war, and suddenly he is in a top position because of connections to international agencies," said someone who traveled with Karzai to the Gulf and asked for anonymity.

Karzai has dealt with this sort of invective before. Since the summer, his administration has deflected rumors of friction between himself and Fahim. According to a source close to Fahim, the defense minister did not accompany Karzai and Foreign Minister Fahim to New York for the United Nations General Assembly meeting in mid-September because "the United States feels [Fahim] is a liability right now for Karzai." Aref has suggested that while Karzai supports Fahim, a Karzai advisor does not. In this matter, the president emphatically serves as his own press secretary. "Who is this advisor of mine who has problems with Fahim?" Karzai asked EurasiaNet with a look of incredulity. "Absolutely wrong. We have a great relationship with Marshal Fahim. Unfortunately some papers that don't understand the reality in Afghanistan are making up these ridiculous stories."

Karzai acknowledged that he has much to prove to Afghans, to whom he made ambitious promises after delegates elected him president at the grand Loya Jirga, or legislative council, in June. "Reconstruction operations have to be started very quickly," he said. "We have to put in practice all means at our disposal." But every task – building roads, establishing schools, developing a police force and even starting a banking system – requires enormous international support. Afghanistan has had scant legitimate industry since Soviet troops invaded in 1979.

The ravages of war make every systematic change both sensitive and slow. Karzai told EurasiaNet that the government would soon issue a new currency; a Kabul newspaper has quoted Anwar al-Haq Ahadi, president of Da Afghanistan Bank, as promising that the currency will circulate by October 7. But on September 23, after he promised October 7 delivery, Ahadi confessed that posters promoting the notes mistakenly bore a legend that translates roughly to "Islamic emirate," a term many associate with the Taliban. An associate of Ahadi's told EurasiaNet that this mistake occurred at a German printer and made distribution of the notes in their current form impossible. Inflation of the existing Afghan currency continues to run rampant.

Karzai has met with several world leaders since becoming president, lobbying officials from Japan and Western Europe as well as Americans. Still, he recognizes that Afghans may hold him responsible for their stubborn poverty. "If we break the promises we have made," the president said, "people have a right to change." Three months into his administration, Karzai is still asking for assistance abroad and patience at home.

Editor's Note: Camelia Entekhabi-Fard is a journalist specializing in Afghan and Iranian affairs.

Posted October 1, 2002 © Eurasianet