This Week in Afghanistan Watch:

• What do you learn when you speak with 1,600 Afghans?
• The implications of Monday's suicide attack
• New law demands better standards in Afghan prisons
  

June 16, 2005

Featured Report:

Voices of a new Afghanistan (PDF)

This detailed report by CSIS draws on interviews with over 1,600 Afghan citizens as part of an integrated model to assess progress in stabilization and reconstruction.

This is precisely the sort of study that is needed to help set international priorities and resource allocation. As co-author Rick Barton argues: "International actors would be better served to make a greater effort aligning international priorities with local priorities," since "local buy-in for reconstruction is a critical component of a safe operating environment, and the only chance of progress actually being made."

Here are some quotes from the report:

• Security: "Security continues to be a major concern, although crime . . . is the most significant security threat," the report states. "People throughout the country fear that without the international military presence, Afghanistan will erupt into violence."



• Governance and Population: "Afghans support the central government, and equate it with President Karzai," the report states. "Afghan's do not trust or rely on local and provincial government due to widespread corruption.



• Justice and Accountability: "There is no functioning, formal justice system in Afghanistan," the report states. "Individual rights are poorly understood and poorly protected, especially for women."



• Economic Opportunity: "Reconstruction efforts have not succeeded thus far in creating enough jobs for Afghans. Poppy growing provides a viable livelihood for some, but a majority of Afghans believe poppy is bad for the development of their country," the report states.



• Social Well-Being: "While many communities in Afghanistan have seen improvements in health care, education, service provision, and infrastructure, significant gaps remain in all these areas," the report states.

Suicide bomber wounds 4 U.S soldiers in Afghanistan

KANDAHAR, June 13 (Reuters) By Mirwais Afghan—A suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into a U.S. military vehicle in southern Afghanistan on Monday, killing himself and wounding four American soldiers, one seriously, the U.S. military said. This attack has some extremely troubling implications: it signals that Iraq tactics have come to Afghanistan. Read more here.

New law to promote international standards in prisons

KABUL, 15 June (IRIN)—A newly-ratified law is expected to bring significant changes to Afghanistan's crumbling prisons and ensure the basic rights of thousands of inmates in the country's jails, law experts said in the capital, Kabul, on Tuesday.

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Afghanistan Watch is prepared by Carl Robichaud, a program officer at The Century Foundation.

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