Reintegration of Ex-Combatants: Lessons from the U.S. Experience in Afghanistan
Abstract
Reintegration of Ex-Combatants: Lessons from the U.S. Experience in Afghanistan is the seventh lessons learned report to be issued by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. This report examines the five main post-2001 reintegration efforts in Afghanistan and assesses their effectiveness. Further, it examines several past local security agreements in Afghanistan and whether they provided an opening for reintegration. The report also includes case studies of reintegration in Colombia and Somalia, and considers whether current conditions in Afghanistan are conducive to a renewed reintegration program. The report identifies lessons to inform U.S. policies and actions regarding the reintegration of ex-combatants. These lessons are relevant for Afghanistan, where the United States will likely remain engaged in the coming years, and for reintegration efforts in other fragile states engaged in or emerging from conflict. The report also provides recommendations to the Congress and executive branch agencies for improving such efforts. Our findings highlight the difficulty of reintegrating ex-combatants during an active insurgency in a fragile state. In Afghanistan, we found that the absence of a comprehensive political settlement or peace agreement was a key factor in the failure of prior reintegration programs targeting Taliban fighters. Other important factors were insecurity and threats facing program participants, a weak economy offering few legal economic opportunities, andlimited government capacity to implement a program. None of the reintegration programs succeeded in enabling any significant number of ex-combatants to socially and economically rejoin civil society. Programs specifically targeting Taliban insurgents did not weaken the insurgency to any substantial degree or contribute meaningfully to parallel reconciliation efforts.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2019
- Accession Number
- AD1137655
Entities
People
- John Sopko
Organizations
- Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction