Afghan Sub-National Governance: Enabling Success by 2014

Abstract

The situation in Afghanistan is incredibly complex, with challenging time constraints to produce strategic success. Only through a revised approach that enables Afghan sub-national governance to develop legitimacy and capacity can the international community achieve its strategic end-state of a stable and politically viable Afghan state. This paper will argue that Afghanistan's current legitimacy vacuum was created by a lack of appreciation of the historical and cultural aspects of Afghan governance, the impact of a hastily ratified constitution, misaligned U.S. policy and strategy of a "top-down" versus "bottom-up" methodology, and the absence of effective local justice. An adjusted approach that creates the governance "missing middle" and systems to support good governance will enable sustainable legitimacy by 2014. A failure to recognize the importance of sub-national governance and its role in improving legitimacy places the future of Afghanistan and U.S. strategic interests in jeopardy.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 15, 2012
Accession Number
ADA562826

Entities

People

  • Kyle J. Marsh

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Afghanistan
  • Communities
  • Criminals
  • Department Of Defense
  • Education
  • Governments
  • National Governments
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • Nato
  • Personnel Management
  • Political Science
  • Political Systems
  • Security
  • Stability Operations
  • United States
  • War Colleges

Fields of Study

  • Political science

Readers

  • Military and Counterinsurgency Studies.
  • Systems Analysis and Design