Ghani’s Slow But Promising Start

When former Afghan President Hamid Karzai handed power over to the National Unity Government, he left a country struggling to deal with endemic corruption, poorly functioning institutions, an empty treasury, fragile relations with its western allies, and most importantly a country of ethnic divides. The government even lacked adequate funds to pay the salaries of its employees. How is the new administration doing in reversing Afghanistan’s fortunes?

Since his election, President Ashraf Ghani has taken some bold steps to reshape Afghanistan’s internal and external policies.

Ghani broke the shackles of traditional Afghan foreign policy and is pursuing an active foreign policy. He backed Saudi Arabia’s stance against Houthi rebels, turning a new page in Afghanistan’s foreign policy, which historically had maintained neutrality regarding global and regional issues. Ghani has also led on the issue of negotiations with the Taliban. Since taking office last September, Ghani has sought to bring the Taliban to the negotiation table in a bid to restore peace to the country. To achieve this, he visited Beijing, Riyadh, Islamabad, Washington, and New Delhi. Ghani has been able to convince the regional countries – China in particular, that terrorism not only poses a serious threat to Afghanistan, but to the entire region. Similarly, Ghani has sought to ease tension with Pakistan by promoting security and economic engagement with the ultimate aim of bringing the Taliban to the negotiation table. As a result of these efforts, the Afghan Taliban during the recent Doha conference exhibited early signs of softening their stance and demands, particularly with regards to women’s rights. However, the peace process has not formally begun.

To bring the Afghan economy back to its feet, the new Afghan administration is adopting a two-pronged approach. Ghani is encouraging regional countries to promote integration through trade and economic ties. China has shown interest in building the Wakhan Corridor in Badakhshan province, which will connect China and Afghanistan, thereby promoting bilateral trade and encouraging further Chinese investment. At the same time, Ghani has asked the United States to finance his development plan of $800 million. Both of these measures hold promise but will require time to show tangible impacts on the country’s economy.

Ghani also appears to have made a pragmatic and serious commitment to combat corruption. In his first week in office, Ghani issued a decree to reinvestigate the Kabul Bank scandal, which resulted in the tripling of the sentence for the two former two heads of the bank. Ghani also ordered an investigation into a major Afghan Ministry of Defense contract, which revealed fraud involving millions of dollars. Putting ideas from his book “How to Fix Broken States” into practice, the president has established a national procurement board which he chairs himself. The committee holds regular meetings to review major government procurement contracts, aiming to stop corruption. While talking to a gathering of the International Contract Group on Afghanistan, the president referred to the national procurement board and stated that more than $20 million has been saved in the last six months.

Ghani has also made changes on the military and security front. The establishment of Tawheed, a coordination center in the Presidential Palace, allows the president to interact regularly with the Army commanders in the field and dispatch resources whenever necessary. Despite the failure to confirm a Minister of Defense, the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) have performed well under the new administration, though they still need to improve. For example, ANSF recaptured Nawa district of Ghazni province from Taliban after almost a decade.

Despite the bold steps taken by the president, he has faced some setbacks. It took more than six months for Ghani to form a cabinet, and several governorships and other high rank positions have yet to be filled. The failure of the government to appoint high-ranking government officials has damaged the reputation of Afghanistan’s new government.

The new government needs time to clean the mess left by Karzai’s administration. It will not be an easy process. The process will require cooperation from elites in order to set a clearer future for the Afghan people. However, the current government is taking the necessary steps to implement a plan for growth and progress. Patience is needed in order to allow the administration to prove itself. Afghanistan’s international allies and the United States in particular, need to remain committed to Afghanistan by providing political and financial support, even if it is conditional on reforms and combating corruption. In addition, the regional countries – China in particular – need to play more active roles in Afghanistan, by using their leverage to encourage Pakistan to honestly cooperate with the Afghan government on the peace process.

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