Reconstruction in AFGHANISTAN

This article was written on 17/12/2006. It was moved from my previous blog to this one.

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Major changes can be seen as early as entering Afghanistan on the border.

New roads are under construction all over the country. Old roads are being repaired and extended. New markets and buildings are seen everywhere. Houses and parks are also being built, repaired or modernised.

Some places are unrecognisable and not because of destruction for the first time, but because new construction work is being done.

For a person like me, visiting Afghanistan for the first time in three years, these are major changes but the people who live here are finding the re-construction process very slow and exhaustive.

To look at it from their point of view, they are right. Not enough is being done. The process is not just slow but key things like electricity, schools, and hospitals are almost taken out of the equation.

The police force is new but it seems as if corruption has been running the system for generations. Only a small number of individuals are getting richer and richer but the nation stays poor.

The majority of people are still unemployed. The assessment process for employment is "who you know" and not "what you know". Peace is not properly in place. There is a constant fear of death.

However, looked at from the perspective that the infrastructure of Afghanistan was completely destroyed, to reconstruct a country with no infrastructure is a very difficult task.
It means there is a vital need for infrastructure in order for reconstruction to work properly – and bringing an infrastructure into place is a harder task than reconstruction.

The authorities are also struck with another big problem - education. There are not enough educated people to carry out all the required jobs and even if there are the right people for the jobs they most probably won’t achieve the employment they need because they don't know the right people and - as I have already mentioned - knowing what is important is not necessarily going to get you a job if you don't know the right people in power who can get you the job or who have the money to bribe an employer on your behalf.

I spoke to one Afghan who was asked to pay 20,000 Afghani - about £200 or $400 - to get a job that only pays 2,000 Afghani - £20 or $40 - a month and the contract for the job was only for a year. Now, with his salary, that person can only earn 4,000 Afghani more in a year than he paid in a bribe to get the job.

It also costs him more to commute to and from work each day - so why would anyone bother to take a job on that basis? There is no honour in being employed on this basis.
It didn’t look as if the man I spoke to took the job. He wore a gold-plated Rado watch, a half-inch thick gold chain around his neck and two fat gold rings, one on a finger of each hand - not the kind of accessories that someone engaged in a “legitimate” job that yielded less than 4,000 Afghani - £40 or $80 - a per year after bribes had been deducted.

In a country where there is hardly any infrastructure in place, corruption is paralysing the nation and there is a constant threat of bombs exploding where ever you go, how can the pace of re-construction be speeded up? There are four TV channels but no electricity to watch them with. The population still largely depends on radios for news and entertainment.

Although the first look of what I saw gave me good feelings, with time it changed. As I found out more about life and living standards, the sadness grew and the anger towards those who destroyed our beloved country and those who won’t let it get back on its feet, grew more and more.

Thinking about why our country is in this state made me realise it is our own fault.
Far too many educated Afghans living abroad, who could make a difference in Afghanistan, do not want to return until they are dead, so that their bodies are buried in Afghan soil.

The result - we have lots of scholars and educated people who unfortunately don’t do anything for the mother country until they are all dead – which is great for fertilizing the soil but no help at all when it comes to rebuilding and reconstruction.

If only more educated people were willing to return and contributed, things could be very different.

We cannot change history but we can change the future so let’s do all we can to work towards the stability and prosperity of the country we all love so much.

Let's get united and put a stop to being the enemies of Afghanistan. A united and happy Afghanistan is the greatest wealth Afghans could ever have. Tall buildings are not signs of happiness. Satisfaction however, is.

Accepting what we’ve got and treating fellow Afghans with love, compassion and wisdom could become infectious and lead to clearer minds. With a new year ahead of us it is time to throw away the hate rate and embrace love.