Afghanistan: Government Formation and Performance
Abstract
The central government's limited writ and widespread official corruption are helping to sustain a Taliban insurgency and have fed pessimism about the Afghanistan stabilization effort. However, ethnic disputes remain confined largely to political debate and competition, enabling President Hamid Karzai to focus on working with U.S. and international donors on how to build Afghan institutions, and on his bid for re-election in presidential elections slated for August 20, 2009. Karzai faces substantial loss of public confidence, but his opponents -- divided by ethnicity and personal ambition -- were unable to form a strong electoral coalition as the presidential election registration process closed on May 8, 2009. At the same time, over the past year U.S. officials have been shifting away from reliance on building the central government and toward promoting local governing bodies and security initiatives. That trend is to accelerate, according to the Obama Administration's review of U.S. strategy, the results of which were announced on March 27, 2009. The core of the new strategy is a so-called "civilian surge" that envisions over 430 additional U.S. civilian personnel to deploy to Afghanistan to help build its governing and security institutions and increase economic development efforts. The Administration also says it will develop "metrics" by which to judge the performance and legitimacy of the Afghan government, including its efforts to curb official corruption, although the Administration and many in Congress appear reluctant to tie any U.S. funds or other activities to Afghanistan's performance on such metrics. The review did not emphasize building democracy in Afghanistan, although that goal appears implicit within its recommendations. For further information, see CRS Report RL30588, "Afghanistan: Post-Taliban Governance, Security, and U.S. Policy," by Kenneth Katzman.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 12, 2009
- Accession Number
- ADA501387
Entities
People
- Kenneth Katzman
Organizations
- Library of Congress