Aigerim's Policy Recommendation

As Betsy mentioned in our previous blog entry, we want to start out our project by asserting our current opinions on what should be done in Afghanistan today through a general policy recommendation. Here is my current recommendation and general stance on the situation in Afghanistan:

Since the early nineteenth century, foreign agents hindered the stability and growth of Afghanistan and debased its chance to become a free and sovereign state: first the British, then the Soviets and now the United States and other influential western nations. None of these foreign powers gave Afghanistan a chance to develop itself economically, socially or politically. Due to the lack of time and independence for the Afghans to create their own political and legislative system, Afghanistan never had a chance for modern stability.

To create a stable society in Afghanistan, foreign forces should not influence the creation of any political, economic, legislative or social structures of Afghanistan. Instead, they should provide Afghanistan with the means of holding peaceful debates and discussions on what policies the “new” Afghanistan should implement. Complete restructuring of all existing government structures is the main priority for creating a stable state out of Afghanistan. It is essential that any new policies or laws come from the people of Afghanistan, because if they come up with guidelines for themselves, they would believe in them more and follow them. At the same time, the collaboration of all the people of Afghanistan would also create a feeling of camaraderie and unity.

Due to the population size of Afghanistan, approximately 30,000,000 people, it would be impossible to give each citizen of Afghanistan a direct voice in the restructuring, which is why debates must occur at local levels first. They should begin on a town basis for rural areas and a district level for bigger cities. Then every single town would elect a representative that would then go on to represent their town in a regional assembly, which would consist of an agglomeration of approximately ten to thirty towns. Lastly, each of the regional assemblies would elect a representative to a national assembly, a collection of representatives from each of the regional assemblies. The national assembly would then convene to write a new constitution for Afghanistan. Afterwards, the people of Afghanistan would vote on the proposed constitution, and it would only come into effect if 2/3 of Afghanistan vote for it. If this constitution fails, the process will go through the same town to region to nation cycle until a proposed constitution succeeds.

The role of foreign governments to aid Afghanistan should be in helping it to create a new constitution by providing Afghanistan with security for all the assembly meetings and by bringing in foreign observers to ensure fair constitution voting. Lastly, if this process works, and the people of Afghanistan create a new constitution for themselves, foreign presence in Afghanistan will be up to the will of the newly created government. At the current moment, foreign nations currently involved in Afghanistan must spark political activism in Afghanistan and allow the people of Afghanistan to exchange their ideas of an ultimate government for themselves.

These are just my initial thoughts on what should be done. I do expect some of my ideas to change by the completion of this independent study.