Isaac Baker

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 9 2005 (IPS) — Despite increased funding to reconstruct the war-ravaged nations of Iraq and Afghanistan, a lack of security and severely damaged infrastructure are crippling rebuilding efforts in the two countries, two former diplomats said at a discussion in New York Tuesday.

Sir Jeremy Greenstock, the former British Special Envoy for Iraq, and Ravan Farhadi, former ambassador of Afghanistan to the United Nations, said efforts to reconstruct the two countries, both invaded by U.S.-led coalition forces and then bogged down in violent insurgencies, are not keeping pace with many expectations.

Greenstock, who spent seven months as Britain’s representative in Iraq, said that when it comes to perceptions of the reconstruction of Iraq, there are “two countries”.

“There’s one Iraq that the international community sees, that the donors see, that the United States government sees, that the United Kingdom government sees,” Greenstock said, speaking at the New York headquarters of the Council on Foreign Relations, a major foreign policy think-tank. “And there’s another Iraq underneath – one of the ordinary people.”

“The curse of Saddam Hussein has been taken away,” he added. “But the expectations that the removal of Saddam Hussein generated have not been lived up to.”

While the rebuilding processes in Iraq and Afghanistan are obviously very different, both nations have seen their share of similar successes and failures in the period of reconstruction after the U.S.-led invasions.

Both nations have made significant democratic political advances but are still suffering from security threats and sluggish advances in rebuilding infrastructure and providing basic services.

U.S., British and other coalition troops have battled bloody insurgencies in both countries that claimed the lives of thousands of Afghans, Iraqis, and coalition soldiers, with the death toll for U.S. troops in Iraq topping 2,000 last month.

Both Greenstock and Farhadi said this lack of security is the main roadblock to successful reconstruction of the two nations.

“[Iraqi] society wants security to be put at the top of the list,” Greenstock said, calling an end to Iraq’s tumultuous violence the prime issue for the country’s reconstruction.

However, with the war in Iraq becoming increasingly unpopular, both in the United States and around the world, many critics are calling for a faster transition of security responsibilities to Iraqi forces and the withdrawal of many or all U.S. and other coalition forces.

Yet Greenstock said he strongly disagreed with withdrawing troops until real security is sufficiently established. By withdrawing the troops, he said, “You change a situation that is chaos with some hope into a situation that is chaos with no hope.”

Another problem facing the occupying forces as well as the newly-elected governments of Iraq and Afghanistan is the fumbled attempts to provide basic services like electricity, clean water, health care and education.

While according to polls, Iraqis generally cite security as their number one concern, receiving electricity and clean water and other services are close behind.

In July, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), Congress’ investigative body, released a report criticising the slow pace of reconstruction in Afghanistan, laying much of the blame on the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

“Delayed U.S. funding, small staff size, inadequate working conditions, and a lack of a comprehensive strategy impeded progress,” the report says. “The United States did not meet all of its reconstruction targets.”

The report gave a few examples of these missed targets. While the U.S. government had planned to rehabilitate or rebuild 286 schools by the end of 2004, the report points out that by September only eight new schools had been completed and 77 refurbished. Also, only 15 of the slated 253 health clinics in Afghanistan were completed by the target date.

Greenstock told IPS that providing the Iraqi people with electricity, water, and other services, may take longer than coalition governments have planned.

“It’s going to be a long time, it’s going to be longer because some of the mistakes we’ve made,” he told IPS. “But we haven’t been honest enough with ourselves about how long it’s going to take.”

However, despite these huge obstacles, both nations have begun to make serious political steps in the democratic direction.

Farhadi told the audience he was proud of Afghanistan’s advances in democracy, such as the successful presidential elections in 2004. “Let me assure you,” he said, “in Afghanistan, there is no support for the Taliban. Now the situation is starting to change.”

Greenstock also praised the passing of a referendum on the Iraqi constitution by popular election last month, calling it a landmark for the Middle Eastern nation and a vital political foundation for Iraq’s reconstruction.

“Without political structures, hopes for the future and a knowledge of where the country is going, you cannot have law and order,” he said. “Without law and order, you cannot have reconstruction.”