Columbia International Affairs Online: Working Papers

CIAO DATE: 08/2014

Stabilizing Afghanistan: Proposals for Improving Security, Governance, and Aid/Economic Development

Tobias Ellwood

April 2013

Atlantic Council

Abstract

Tobias Ellwood, a leading UK parliamentarian from the Conservative party, urges the international community to make adjustments to its approach in supporting Afghanistan, if it is to achieve its aims post-2014. In a new Atlantic Council report released today, Stabilizing Afghanistan: Proposals for Improving Security, Governance, and Aid/Economic Development, Ellwood argues that the international community will only achieve its long-term goal in Afghanistan if is adjusts its current approach to better address governance, security, and economic development.

The report assesses how Afghanistan is progressing on the security, governance, and economic front. Ellwood concludes that the international community has one more chance between now and 2014 to leave behind an Afghanistan that broadly secures Afghan and international interests. Ellwood urges the international community to focus in particular on reforms to the Afghan political system, reconciliation, and local economic development to avoid the prospects of a civil war after the international community departs.