Block, Siteadmin, SkipCaptcha, Upload, Automoderated users, delete, edit, move, nsTeam2RO, nsTeam2RW, nsTeam2_talkRO, nsTeam2_talkRW, protect, rollback, Administrators, template
295,703
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Line 70:
Line 70: − + − − An election was held on September 18, 2005 for the “Wolesi Jirga” (lower house) of Afghanistan's new bicameral National Assembly and for the country's 34 provincial councils. Turnout for the election was about 53% of the 12.5 million registered voters. The first democratically elected National Assembly since 1969 was inaugurated on December 19, 2005. − − The government's authority is weak; its ability to deliver necessary social services remains largely dependent on funds from the international donor community. Between 2001 and 2006, the United States committed over $12 billion to the reconstruction of Afghanistan. At an international donors' conference in Berlin in April 2004, donors pledged a total of $8.2 billion for Afghan reconstruction over the three-year period 2004–2007. At the end of January 2006, the international community gathered in London and renewed its political and reconstruction support for Afghanistan in the form of the Afghanistan Compact. − − With international community support, including more than 40 countries participating in Operation Enduring Freedom and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), the government's capacity to secure Afghanistan's borders to maintain internal order is increasing. Responsibility for security for all of Afghanistan was transferred to ISAF in October 2006. As of November 2006, some 40,000 Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers had been trained along with some 60,000 police, including border and highway police. American observers give them low marks for competence and loyalty to the national government. − − A program called "Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration" (DDR) has also helped to further establish the authority of the Afghan central government by disarming 63,000 tribal militia by June 2006. A follow-on program targeting illegal militias, the Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG), was begun in 2005, under the joint auspices of Japan and the United Nations. The DIAG program is still ongoing. − − The pro-Karzai Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazara Shiites and Uzbeks that form the ruling coalition are not united, and the government they dominate is extremely weak and poverty-stricken. The Afghan government controls only 30% of the country. The country is resource-poor—there is no oil—and the only rich resource is opium poppies. There is no educated base for a competent bureaucracy, and the army is little more than an amateur collection of tribal militias. 90% of the soldiers are illiterate, making them very hard to train to modern standards. − − The rebels in the southern provinces come from the Pashtuns tribes, which form 44% of the population. Only a minority of Pashtuns support the rebels. The Taliban have a significant presence in many Pashtun villages, as well as a sanctuary in neighboring Pakistan. The number of armed insurgents has grown from 3,000 in 2006 to 15,000- 20,000 in 2009. They are locals who know the hiding places in the extremely difficult terrain, and receive protection support from some Pashtun tribes. − Elections for a new government held in summer 2009 were clouded by serious charges of irregularity. In September 2009 the issue was whether to expand the American military presence to engage in more nation building. − −
→Karzai presidency 2001-2014
Three weeks after the 9/11 attacks, on October 3, 2001, Sen. Joseph Biden, Chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, proposed a billion dollars in aid to a yet to be formed Afghan interim government. The amount was almost twice as much as U.N. General Secretary [[Kofi Annan]] proposed and more than triple what the Bush administration asked for.<ref>Sen. Biden: "U.N. Secretary Kofi Annan has issued an appeal for $584 million to meet the needs of the Afghan refugees and displaced people, within Afghanistan and in neighboring countries. This is the amount deemed necessary to stave off disaster for the winter, which will start in Afghanistan in just a few weeks. We must back up our rhetoric with action, with something big and bold and meaningful. We can offer to foot the entire bill for keeping the Afghan people safely fed, clothed, and sheltered this winter, and that should be the beginning....We can kick the effort off in a way that would silence our critics in the rest of the world: a check for $1 billion, and a promise for more to come as long as the rest of the world joins us. This initial amount would be more than enough to meet all the refugees’ short-term needs, and would be a credible downpayment for the long-term effort. Eventually the world community will have to pony up more billions, but there is no avoiding that now, not if we expect our words ever to carry any weight.<br>If anyone thinks this amount of money is too high, let me note one stark, simple and very sad statistic. The damage inflicted by the September 11 attack in economic terms alone was a minimum of several hundred billion dollars and a maximum of over $1 trillion. The cost in human life, of course, as the Presiding Officer knows, is far beyond any calculation. [https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRECB-2001-pt13/pdf/CRECB-2001-pt13-issue-2001-10-03.pdf Pg. 18464]</ref> Harmid Karzai formed an interim government on 22 December 2001 until elections could be held after the removal of Taliban rule by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) forces. On January 10, 2002 Joe Biden arrived in Afghanistan on a four-day fact-finding visit and met with Karzai.<ref>https://www.army.mil/article/50258/biden_meets_karzai_visits_troops_in_afghanistan</ref> In 2002 and 2003, when Afghan tribal councils gathered to write a new constitution, the U.S. government gave “nice packages” to delegates who supported Washington’s preferred stance. “The perception that was started in that period: If you were going to vote for a position that Washington favored, you’d be stupid to not get a package for doing it,” according to a U.S. official who served in Kabul at the time.<ref>https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/investigations/afghanistan-papers/afghanistan-war-corruption-government/</ref>
Three weeks after the 9/11 attacks, on October 3, 2001, Sen. Joseph Biden, Chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, proposed a billion dollars in aid to a yet to be formed Afghan interim government. The amount was almost twice as much as U.N. General Secretary [[Kofi Annan]] proposed and more than triple what the Bush administration asked for.<ref>Sen. Biden: "U.N. Secretary Kofi Annan has issued an appeal for $584 million to meet the needs of the Afghan refugees and displaced people, within Afghanistan and in neighboring countries. This is the amount deemed necessary to stave off disaster for the winter, which will start in Afghanistan in just a few weeks. We must back up our rhetoric with action, with something big and bold and meaningful. We can offer to foot the entire bill for keeping the Afghan people safely fed, clothed, and sheltered this winter, and that should be the beginning....We can kick the effort off in a way that would silence our critics in the rest of the world: a check for $1 billion, and a promise for more to come as long as the rest of the world joins us. This initial amount would be more than enough to meet all the refugees’ short-term needs, and would be a credible downpayment for the long-term effort. Eventually the world community will have to pony up more billions, but there is no avoiding that now, not if we expect our words ever to carry any weight.<br>If anyone thinks this amount of money is too high, let me note one stark, simple and very sad statistic. The damage inflicted by the September 11 attack in economic terms alone was a minimum of several hundred billion dollars and a maximum of over $1 trillion. The cost in human life, of course, as the Presiding Officer knows, is far beyond any calculation. [https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRECB-2001-pt13/pdf/CRECB-2001-pt13-issue-2001-10-03.pdf Pg. 18464]</ref> Harmid Karzai formed an interim government on 22 December 2001 until elections could be held after the removal of Taliban rule by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) forces. On January 10, 2002 Joe Biden arrived in Afghanistan on a four-day fact-finding visit and met with Karzai.<ref>https://www.army.mil/article/50258/biden_meets_karzai_visits_troops_in_afghanistan</ref> In 2002 and 2003, when Afghan tribal councils gathered to write a new constitution, the U.S. government gave “nice packages” to delegates who supported Washington’s preferred stance. “The perception that was started in that period: If you were going to vote for a position that Washington favored, you’d be stupid to not get a package for doing it,” according to a U.S. official who served in Kabul at the time.<ref>https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/investigations/afghanistan-papers/afghanistan-war-corruption-government/</ref>
On October 9, 2004, Afghanistan held its first national democratic presidential election. More than 8 million Afghans voted, 41% of whom were women. Hamid Karzai was the winner and was inaugurated on December 7 for a five-year term as Afghanistan's first democratically elected president.
On October 9, 2004, Afghanistan held its first national democratic presidential election. More than 8 million Afghans voted, 41% of whom were women. [[Hamid Karzai]] was the winner and was inaugurated on December 7 for a five-year term as Afghanistan's first democratically elected president. In 2014 [[Ashraf Ghani]] was elected as new president of Afghanistan and held office until the fall of Kabul in August 2021.
In 2014 [[Ashraf Ghani]] was elected as new president of Afghanistan and held office until the fall of Kabul in August 2021.
====Nation building====
====Nation building====