Irony of War: Human Development as Warfare in Afghanistan (Colloquium, Volume 3, Number 3, October 2010)

摘要

Afghanistan is an enduring drama in which U.S. armed forces are destined to play a role for many years. It is a country beset by an insurgency that threatens to destroy the 9-year economic progress that many Afghans have enjoyed since the end of Taliban rule. Many students of insurgency, or any other type of warfare, do not associate human development with counterinsurgency (COIN). In fact, 'Human development' is not a standard term in the lexicon of war. It is a term coined in the late 20th Century to describe broad-based development in multiple sectors of an economy. Today, economists use this term regularly when referring to plans and projects designed to increase standards of living for the world.' poor. The United Nations argued that 'Human development is a process of enlarging people's choices. The most critical of these wide-ranging choices are to live a long and healthy life, to be educated, and to have access to resources needed for a decent standard of living. When Coalition forces in Afghanistan work to develop the economy, public administration, health system, communications, education, and, sometimes, the rule of law and security, they are trying to build human development in Afghanistan. This paper will focus on the developmental, rather than the lethal or kinetic, aspects of COIN to defeat the insurgency in Afghanistan. U.S. COIN doctrine has evolved to place a premium on working with indigenous populations to enable them to better their lives. Traditionally, warfare has been associated with harming people and destroying targets. But there is an irony, of sorts, to the current COIN in Afghanistan: this war is heavily focused on building and not on killing or destroying. According to doctrine, the Afghan insurgents will be defeated, primarily, by creating a generation of Afghans who see the government as their ally in building an economically promising future.