Rebuilding a Moonscape

Amoonscape. Ground zero. A land where everything is destroyed. Yes, that’s Afghanistan, after 22 years of civil war, rule by fanatics and bombing by U.S. forces trying to root out the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Now the question is where to start rebuilding.

This week’s Tokyo conference of two dozen nations and international organizations ended with promises of $4.5 billion in aid to Afghanistan. Spending that money properly will not be easy, but the early needs are easily identified. Thousands of workers for the past and current Afghan governments have just been paid after months without salaries. Their pay has to keep coming. Still waiting for cash are the police and other security forces. If the pay isn’t forthcoming, there’s little incentive for doing honest government work--just an invitation to extortion.

Next up should be road building. Transportation other than by mule or horse is essential. Afghans can get jobs building the roads. When they’re done, it will be easier to get food shipments to those starving after decades of war and three years of drought.

Nations providing money will have to put aside at least some of their desire for name recognition. It’s easy to hang a “Paid for by Japan” sign on a new school or a “Gift of the people of Iran” billboard next to a factory. That kind of reminder gratifies egos in the donor nation and provides evidence to the people back home of where the money went. It also reminds recipients of where the money came from. But not everything of importance can carry a sign. The salaries of Interior Ministry watchmen and school janitors may not bear labels saying “From your friends in Saudi Arabia,” but those payments too are necessary.

It would also be good to funnel most of the money through as few agencies as possible, rather than having dozens of nations providing funds and equipment and demanding dozens of receipts for each disbursement. Afghanistan should not have to tie up hundreds of people as clerks. Nearly $2 billion in foreign aid is supposed to be spent this year. In a country with no infrastructure and a history of warlords grabbing what they want, corruption is likely. Fewer aid pipelines could minimize those diversions. Countries providing aid should insist on careful oversight.

The United States paid most of the bills for fighting the war; other countries should pick up most of the tab for reconstruction. Washington can help get things started, perhaps by having the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance work closely with the Pentagon’s humanitarian assistance department to get basic buildings like hospitals built. That teamwork was impressive in boosting Bosnia’s reconstruction. The need in Afghanistan is even greater and will require years of aid. But if the result is a functioning nation of moderate Muslims--as Afghanistan was before the Soviet invasion in 1979--it can be a model for other countries.