Afghanistan’s Long Road to Reconstruction

Issue Date January 2003
Volume 14
Issue 1
Page Numbers 82-99
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The first post-Taliban year in Afghanistan after the U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom shaped the political environment in which President Hamid Karzai’s Transitional Administration functions.  Three major challenges will determine Afghanistan’s long-term reconstruction: establishing a stable government based on the Bonn Accords, providing security through enhanced peacekeeping, and rebuilding a collapsed economy.  The long-term commitment of the United States and the international community to reconstruction will be critical to preventing a return to state failure and a resurgence of militant Islamism.  Also important will be development of a federal system that fits Afghanistan’s inherent localism without reinforcing the power of resurgent warlords.