Prof Ishaq Nadiri, the ANDS and Afghanistan’s Journey to Development
The endorsement of the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS) and its official presentation at the Paris Conference represents a major milestone for Afghanistan – an Afghan plan for Afghanistan led by Afghans.
The Conference saw the international community pledge $21.4 billion in new support for the implementation of the ANDS, demonstrating the world’s strong continuing support for Afghanistan’s development. The ANDS is the pinnacle of Afghanistan demonstrating to the world both how far it has come and its plan for the future. The ANDS demonstrates the momentum with which the country has come from 2001. The government and the donors now have for the first time a comprehensive development roadmap that will guide their activities during the next five years.
The ANDS is also a major milestone for the man who is Afghanistan’s leading economist, Professor M Ishaq Nadiri, who is the President’s Senior Economic Advisor (SEAP) and Chairman of the ANDS Oversight Committee of the Cabinet. In the development of the ANDS he worked closely with the entire Cabinet, particularly the members of the ANDS Oversight Committee that include Dr Spanta (Minister of Foreign Affairs), Dr Ahadi (Minister of Finance), Dr Farhang (Minister of Commerce and Industries), Dr Shams (Minister of Economy), Mr Atmar (Minister of Education) and Mr Danish (Minister of Justice) and led the team of professional and diligent Afghans who produced the ANDS.
Prof Nadiri has been integrally involved in the development of Afghanistan. He was a signatory of the Bonn Agreement in 2001, and returned to Afghanistan many times prior to a more permanent return from the US where he is a highly distinguished professor of economics at New York University in 2005 to be the SEAP.
He went to the US at the age of 19 and received his first degree from the University of Nebraska and graduate degrees from the prestigious University of California, Berkeley. He taught at many of the best universities in the US, including UC Berkeley, Northwestern University, University of Chicago and Columbia University.
In 1970 Prof Nadiri joined New York University where he has served as chairman of the Economics Department and Director of the C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics. In 1975 he was named Jay Gould Professor of Economics. He has published more than 100 papers in leading professional journals and a number of books on productivity, technological change and economic growth. He is a longstanding member of one of America’s leading economic organizations, the National Bureau of Economic Research, and of the prestigious Council of Foreign Relations.
When Afghanistan emerged following the war in 2001, it was as a destroyed society. Much of the physical, human and social capital had been destroyed or severely damaged. As Prof Nadiri described the situation in a recent interview, “Social capital binds a country and its people. It is a product of a thousand years of learning and habits. The depth of the destruction of Afghanistan, unfortunately, has not been fully understood, even by the Afghans themselves.” The degree of devastation of Afghanistan and misery of its people is unique and therefore the rebuilding of Afghanistan requires time, patience, huge resources, cleverness and luck. This will ensure the Afghanistan government and particularly its citizenry lead the way forward.
The I-ANDS and the Afghanistan Compact
Before the ANDS there was the ‘Interim ANDS’ (I-ANDS), identifying the basic outline of goals and actions for the Government to meet. The I-ANDS, like the ANDS, was based on three main pillars: (i) security; (ii) governance, the rule of law and human rights; and (iii) social and economic development. Within each of these pillars the main objectives for the country were identified. This was the beginning of the establishment of a national roadmap for rebuilding Afghanistan and putting the country on a course toward peace and prosperity.
The preparation of the I-ANDS began in 2004 under the guidance of the ANDS Oversight Committee appointed by President Karzai. Prof Nadiri, as the chairman of the Oversight Committee led the team of Afghans that made up the ANDS Working Group. The completed draft I-ANDS was presented to the international community and the Afghan Government in June 2005.
Seven months later I-ANDS was presented at a major international conference in London. It served as the basis for the Afghanistan Compact, an agreement between the Afghan Government and the international community with the goal of achieving the objectives that had been laid out in the I-ANDS. To do this, the Compact included a number of high level benchmarks that the Afghan Government committed to achieving over a five year period. This marked an important turning point in the relationship between the international community and Afghanistan – the Afghan Government began to assume greater responsibility for determining the direction of the country’s development process. At the London Conference, the international community pledged $10.5 billion to the support the implementation of the I-ANDS.
The JCMB
This new partnership between Afghanistan and the international community was strengthened with the creation of the Joint Coordinating and Monitoring Board (JCMB). This new Board is co-chaired by the Afghan Government and the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative, currently Mr Kai Eide. Appointed by President Karzai to co-chair the JCMB, Prof Nadiri has played a central role in making these meetings a success for Afghanistan for more than two years. The JCMB has become the principal focal point for the government and the international community to work together on almost all aspects of this partnership.
To date there have been eight JCMB meetings, five held in Kabul and three held overseas, in Berlin, Tokyo and a special meeting in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, bringing together senior political representatives from Afghanistan’s major international partners. These meetings have focused on the major challenges facing the country, including security, counter-narcotics, regional cooperation, and the effectiveness of foreign aid.
The Millennium Development Goals
A further step forward in Afghanistan’s self-drive towards progress occurred in 2004 when President Karzai declared to the UN Secretary General that Afghanistan was ready to take its rightful place in the international community and join other developing countries in committing to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These Goals are designed to enable people throughout the world to enjoy the minimum requirements of a dignified life.
Afghanistan has nine MDGs to be achieved by 2020 and include: (i) eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; (ii) achieve universal primary education; (iii) promote gender equality and empower women; (iv) reduce child mortality; (v) improve maternal health; (vi) combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other diseases; (vii) ensure environmental sustainability; (viii) join the Global Partnership for Development; and (ix) enhance security.
The MDGs are ambitious goals for a country that endured the destruction and lack of progress during two decades of conflict and strife. The government’s commitment to achieving the MDGs is an important milestone in the return of Afghanistan to the global community of nations. It is also a significant commitment to the Afghan people. It says to Afghans that the government is firmly pledged to improve their day to day lives in tangible ways, especially for the poorest and most vulnerable of the country’s citizens. The MDGs define many of the social objectives that are embodied in the ANDS and are an integral part of the country’s development efforts.
To lead the government in achieving these Goals, President Karzai appointed the MDG Oversight Committee which was co-chaired by First Vice President Ahmad Zia Massoud and Prof Nadiri and included five additional ministers. Under this stewardship, the government began work on a major MDG report to assess where Afghanistan stood in each of the areas defined by the MDGs and to identify the steps that would be needed to reach these Goals. This report was completed and presented at the UN World Summit in September 2005.
Private Sector Development
Under Afghan leadership, the economy is beginning to stand on its own feet and beginning to generate the investment that will be needed to drive economic growth in the future.
Solving the problems of unemployment is one of the most pressing challenges facing the country. This challenge can only be met with a strong and growing private sector, willing to invest and create the large number of new and better jobs needed by Afghans. The government cannot be an effective engine of economic growth. This responsibility must rest with the private sector. It is only with the initiative of the private sector that the country’s resources, particularly its labor, can be put back to work in productive employment.
Today the Afghan private sector is getting stronger. Decades of being isolated from the rest of the world economy has left businesses with little experience and without the skills needed to compete in today’s competitive global market place. The government is providing support to strengthen the private sector in a number of ways, such as easing access to credit and providing technical assistance. However, one of the government’s most important responsibilities is to ensure that conditions within the country will encourage the growth and development of productive business activity.
Another important Afghan led milestone in Afghanistan’s development was reached with the Enabling Environment for the Private Sector Conference held in Kabul in June 2007, organized by Prof Nadiri. The conference was jointly sponsored by the government and the Aga Khan Development Network and brought together for the first time significant numbers of Afghan businessmen and women, people from civil society, the government and the international community. The Conference Steering Committee was co-chaired by His Highness the Prince Aga Khan and Prof Nadiri.
The conference established for the first time a detailed program of reforms that would create a business environment that would be attractive to private investors. With this policy, the government has made strong commitment to fulfilling its goal of establishing in Afghanistan a strong, private sector-led economy that will bring prosperity to the Afghan people. Like the commitment to reaching the MDGs, the commitment to creating an enabling environment for private sector development is fully integrated into the ANDS.
Agriculture and Natural Resource Development
Revitalizing agriculture is one of the government’s highest priorities. To lead this effort, Vice President Ahmad Zia Massoud turned to Prof Nadiri to chair an inter-ministerial committee to bring about an ‘agricultural revolution’. The strategy that has emerged from this group includes two main areas of focus: to assist small farmers to improve productivity, raising incomes and increasing the production of food available for domestic markets; and enabling the development of medium and large scale commercial agricultural activities. These will provide increased employment in rural areas and increase export opportunities for the country. Leasing the vast public land on a sustained long term basis and providing provisions of credit and capital are basic elements of this strategy.
Improving the prospects for agriculture is linked to improving the country’s water resources. Some 95 percent of all water is used by agriculture. Among the most important projects included in the ANDS are several dams such as Kolcha, Gambiri and Kama that will lead to substantially increased irrigation as well as provide increased power generation capacity.
Afghanistan is rich in minerals. Properly used, these will contribute significantly to the development of the country. The Aynak copper deposit, for example, will provide significant benefits. The investors are expected to invest $2.8 billion over 30 years and pay the government $800 million for the rights to explore and mine copper in this area. This investment will include the construction of a 400 megawatt power station, with some of the electricity being used to supply Kabul. There are opportunities for similar investments in other areas. These ventures will substantially increase employment opportunities as well as provide the government with significant revenues that will be used to improve public services.
The New Dehsabz City Project
There are major urban development challenges facing Kabul. The city has grown far beyond its former size while much of its basic infrastructure, including roads, water and power supplies were damaged or destroyed. To address this challenge, Prof Nadiri has actively pursued the development of a new city, Dehsabz, located some 30 km from Kabul. Dehsabz will become the heart of the Afghan economy. As a city close to Kabul, linked by fast and efficient road transportation, the new city will be able to provide better housing for low, medium and high income groups, which will absorb much of the growing population growth now going to Kabul.
As part of Dehsabz project, the Barikab area, located to the north, will become a commercial agricultural zone designed to supply many of the needs of Dehsabz, undertake agricultural processing and become a center for the cultivation of exportable agricultural products. This will produce food and employment for the future inhabitants of both Kabul and the new city.
To support the development of this project, President Karzai established the Dehsabz City Development Authority. Under Prof Nadiri’s leadership the Authority has engaged a group of international urban planners to design this new city. A unique aspect of the approach being taken is that much of the financial investment for Dehsabz will be undertaken by the private sector, creating opportunities for private sector development. The project is expected to be largely self-financing through the sale of state owned land. The government’s financial investment in the city will be largely limited to providing the basic urban infrastructure.
Regional Development
Afghanistan stands at the cross roads of Asia. This unique geographic location can potentially link western China with the Middle East and on to Africa, linking one giant economic region with another. The potential for Afghanistan from improving these links is considerable. Establishing railroad, gas and fuel pipelines will pay dividends to the Afghan people and further cement the country’s place in the region. Further, increasing regional integration will lead to increased trade and investment, both for Afghanistan and for Afghanistan’s neighbors. This is good for Afghanistan on both counts.
Considerable progress has already been since 2001 improving these links. The ANDS sets out the how Afghanistan will continue the process, to grow and strengthen relationships with her neighbors and establishes a framework through which Afghanistan can take advantage of her geography to aid the process of development.
Afghanistan’s Journey to Development
In 2001 Afghans began to pick up the pieces of their shattered country. Two principal goals motivated the new government: restore security and build an economy that allows the Afghan people to provide for themselves and live in dignity.
Prof M Ishaq Nadiri has been one of the principal architects in the building of a new Afghanistan. From the beginning he has been centrally involved with this process. Important milestones in this journey have included the I-ANDS; the Afghanistan Compact with the international community; the commitment to the Millennium Development Goals; and the ANDS, which now provides the roadmap for developing the country.
At the center of all of these activities has been the steadfast commitment to ‘Afghanization’, the principle that the country’s strategy should be developed by Afghans and the development process is Afghan led. Prof Nadiri has done much to provide the Afghan leadership necessary for successful development. In doing so he has helped a number of young Afghans to gain the knowledge and experience that they will need to sustain the country on its long journey towards peace and prosperity in the years ahead.
Since the London Conference, Afghanistan has received pledges from the international community total $32 billion. Working under the leadership of the President, the Oversight Committee and the Cabinet, Prof Nadiri and his team, both Afghan and international, have developed a road map. Now Afghanistan faces the opportunity to implement the ANDS effectively.
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