Can Less be More in Afghanistan? State-building Lessons from the Past to Guide the Future

Ten years after the U.S.-led intervention in Afghanistan initiated a new, post-Taliban order, the success and sustainability of the international community's ambitious state-building project is being questioned. Though billed as transformative, it is unclear whether the state-building investments and reforms of the past decade can be sustained, or will represent a job half-done.

With the Afghan engagement now at a critical juncture, marked by the convening of another Bonn conference in early December, international donor assistance budgets to Afghanistan are declining, prompting a need to look back as well as forward. Why has deeper and broader engagement been repeatedly attempted despite concern that many efforts have had limited and sometimes counter-productive effects? How can lessons from the past help to identify reasonable ways forward? On November 17, 2011 USIP convened a discussion with a panel of leading experts who examined this important topic at a critical juncture in the state-building history of Afghanistan.

Astri Suhrke, panelist
Senior Researcher, Chr. Michelsen Institute
Author, When More is Less: the International Project in Afghanistan
Mohammad Haneef Atmar, panelist
former Minister of Interior
Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
J. Alexander Thier, panelist
Assistant to the Administrator and Director, Office of Afghanistan and Pakistan Affairs
U.S. Agency for International Development
Michael Semple, panelist
2011-2012 Carr Center Fellow
Harvard Kennedy School
Andrew Wilder, moderator
Director, Afghanistan and Pakistan Programs
United States Institute of Peace