CIAO DATE: 05/2009
February 2009
Center on International Cooperation
In 2005, the Government of Afghanistan initiated a process leading to the formulation of the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS). The ANDS was formally launched at the International Conference in Support of Afghanistan in Paris on June 12, 2008. According to the Paris Conference Declaration, the strategy will be the “roadmap for joint action [by donors and the Afghan government] over the next five years and sets our shared priorities.” This paper examines whether the ANDS, in fact, is strategic. It begins with a brief analysis of what a strategy is before providing an overview of the goals and structure of the ANDS. It then turns to an analysis of its substance, particularly the nexus of security and development. It argues that, while the ANDS does articulate a vision with high-level goals and clear enabling objectives, it does so on the basis of fundamentally flawed assumptions about the nature of Afghanistan’s political, economic, and social realities – including the capacity of the Afghan state for implementation – thereby jeopardising the very vision it sets out to attain.
Resource link: The Afghan National Development Strategy: The Right Plan at the Wrong Time? [PDF] - 100K