Differences in strategy on the part of Nato countries and poor cooperation with regional partners impeded the reconstruction process in war-torn Afghanistan, said Kamal Alam, a London-based senior fellow for Middle East Regional Defence and Security Issues at The Institute for Statecraft. Mr Alam has also advised the British Army on Afghanistan. Follow him on Twitter: @arikemal
There are major differences in the Nato alliance.
The Europeans were focused on reconstruction. The Americans had focused on getting people out of power.
The former US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the former vice president Dick Cheney knew that reconstruction couldn’t be done because while they were with previous US administrations, during the height of American involvement in Soviet occupied Afghanistan, they learnt that spreading out of Kabul is impossible: the Afghans do not like reconstruction that comes in the shape of foreign trainers and foreign ideas.
Mr Rumsfeld was clear in the beginning the Americans do not want to get bogged down in reconstruction – also the realistic idea was to fight Al Qaeda and go after the Taliban.
It was European pressure that forced the Americans to start reconstruction. How can one do reconstruction when bombs, IEDS, ambushes are happening left right and centre? There has to be total peace before there can be a proper reconstruction. Mr Rumsfeld and Mr Bush understood that America had basically stepped into a two-decade-old civil war.
So, for the Americans reconstruction came as an afterthought.
Over the past 10 years that has been one of the main problems. Every country had their own way of doing nation building in Afghanistan.
There was confusion over the mission objective. There was terrorism, anti-narcotics, development and reconstruction and counter insurgency.
In the past two years, the West’s been talking to the Taliban. It kind of defeats everything that’s been done because the whole point was to fight the Taliban.
The Afghans who support reconstruction are let down. There was confusion over what was meant to happen.
Despite that, you can argue there has been some small success in small corners of Afghanistan. Education has been very much the biggest winner, not just for women but also for men. Before 2001, there was
very little education even for men. That’s been done well in different parts of the country. At a local district level there are some good projects and more than anything in education and media.
Afghanistan, in terms of media, was brought into the 21st century.
Before the invasion it was in the 17th or 18th century. Even within the region Afghanistan was 150 years behind. Now, there are private television channels in different languages. The average Afghan has a better awareness of what is happening in the region and the world. So there’s been the reconstruction of the media and the schools.
Other than that I don’t think anything has worked.
What the West has achieved with the army and police is hugely exaggerated. There is a lot of corruption in the construction projects.
What happens to these efforts if the Taliban return? I don’t think that the Taliban will be against women’s education. The West’s intervention has forced the Taliban to evolve since 2001. Even in Syria and Iraq, you see even very extreme Islamist groups using modern media. They use Facebook and Twitter a lot. They are coming out with really high quality DVDs. They probably won’t role back the media as much as some people might fear because they know that this is how the modern world works.
The fear with the Taliban is security, and them taking the country back by arms.
Reconstruction efforts suffered due to the West’s poor understanding of local culture and lack of cooperation with regional countries.
British General Sir David Richards was someone who tried to link the West with the regional efforts. He tried to work with Pakistan and the Turks, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
But these were an isolated effort.
The individual countries could coordinate but there was not a unified strategy.
On paper there was, but on the ground it was different.
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
States of Passion by Nihad Sirees,
Pushkin Press
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
more from Janine di Giovanni
COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
SPECS
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%202-litre%20direct%20injection%20turbo%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%207-speed%20automatic%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20261hp%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20400Nm%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20From%20Dh134%2C999%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The specs: 2018 Opel Mokka X
Price, as tested: Dh84,000
Engine: 1.4L, four-cylinder turbo
Transmission: Six-speed auto
Power: 142hp at 4,900rpm
Torque: 200Nm at 1,850rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L / 100km
