Afghan Sub-National Governance: Enabling Success by 2014.

摘要

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.