Sitting in Washington Dulles airport awaiting to board a flight to Dubai and then on to Afghanistan, I picked up the Washington Post and began reading about the very people I was on my way to visit: the Task Force for Business and Stability Operations led by Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Paul Brinkley. The Task Force, responsible for providing economic normalcy where conflict has eroded people's ability to lead productive and peaceful lives, is hosting me on my second trip to Afghanistan. I am returning, primarily because I was so impressed with Brinkley's operation the first time that our foundation invested in several agricultural projects. Without the Task Force, I would have never made the original trip, and our charitable foundation would not be helping thousands of poor farmers in Afghanistan today.
The Washington Post reports of the dismantling of Brinkley's Task Force, which is clearly an example of politics, turf and jealousy. The Task Force has found an effective approach, producing results, and those in Washington who are threatened by its progress must find a way to defend themselves. In this case, their territorial self-defense is the tearing down of the Task Force, and the undoing of a style that has led to success. The biggest difference I notice when in Afghanistan is the willingness of the Task Force to just do what it takes. While many agency staff will not even venture out of their heavily protected compounds, the Task Force is on the front lines interacting with Afghans every day.
The Task Force is driven by an amazing spirit of people with business backgrounds and the understanding that it requires entrepreneurialism and capitalism to rebuild a country. While humanitarian aid is required at times, true economic development happens on the ground, where individuals are self-empowered to lift themselves from poverty. While it may be tagged as "war zone capitalism", that is exactly what it takes to move a country like Afghanistan forward.
Along similar lines, our foundation's activity has been driven by the belief that people in conflict zones comprise the most disenfranchised populations in the world. In almost all circumstances, these are people who have suffered the loss of life, destroyed homes, and ruined livelihoods at no fault of their own. The disruption in these individuals' lives can last years, and the emotional trauma leaves scars forever. After conflict resolves, entire populations suffer from food insecurity, poor access to water, reduced sanitation, and limited access to education and basic health facilities. I have seen this firsthand because of our foundation's involvement in conflict and post-conflict areas across the globe.
My experiences have taught me that when individuals far removed from an activity believe they understand the situation better than those who live with the consequences, it often leads to failure. Conflict is a nasty business under any circumstance, but it is the flexibility, independence and spontaneity demonstrated by this Task Force that allows it to respond to the constant changes in conditions on the ground. It is this behavior that drives bureaucrats crazy, and it is this risk that career personnel will not take.
It is not surprising that Defense Secretary Gates, Admiral Mullen and General Petraeus have all supported Brinkley. These are the individuals who are deeply committed to and responsible for rebuilding Afghanistan and bringing our troops home. They understand that markets are built by economies, not soldiers; that success must come from investments, not bullets.
Brinkley's team is unconventional, but that is what today's world -- and the toughest conflicts -- demand. Leave it to politics to interrupt a success story and dismantle it before the job is completed. Billions of dollars have been spent in Afghanistan. The budget line item for Brinkley's work is minimal but could have the greatest return of all, based on what I have witnessed.
Our soldiers and our taxpayers deserve every chance to get this right, to know that the lives lost and the money spent resulted in freedoms for the Afghan people that reflect our basic democratic principles. Building businesses, increasing agricultural productivity and supporting a growing economy are the weapons needed to keep peace. It is my hope that in Afghanistan, peace does not surrender to conflict because of politicians who are comfortable and safe back home -- politicians who are unwilling to take the risk required to act with the innovation and ingenuity required to rebuild a nation and bring prosperity to one of the most challenging environments in the world.
Howard Buffett is president of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation. The foundation works in numerous conflict and post conflict areas including; Afghanistan, Colombia, Georgia, Ivory Coast, Iraq, Liberia, Sierra Leon, Somalia, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Buffett's son serves on the Task Force.
Time to shut down an organization that is an embarrassment.
Time to shut down an organizatiÂon that is an embarrassmÂent. This Task Force does not possess the leadership necessary to effect change. It is populated by underexperienced, unprofessional staff more interested in war zone tourism or "making myself look close to the troops" in anticipation of their future Senate campaign (yes, this has been openly and repeatedly stated by the article's author's son, currently serving on the Task Force) than in effecting real change.
Given the cauldron that the Middle East is and what we have been witness to in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, to watch it spread through the Middle East should say something to anyone who wishes to draw out an already long war, is blind to a geopolitical reality.
If and when a people in any of the Arab nations, like Iran and Syria wish to be free from the bonds that impoverish them, they will rise on their own and succeed on their own.
The only benefit in war is to Industrial Military GOP complex, it enriches them and impoverishes this nation regarding health, education, the environment and its most vulnerable citizens. You know, all those things the GOP now wishes to strip away from the American people.
This is insanity. Want to do charitable work, fine, start here, feed our poor and hungry, educate the masses, failing to do so is planning to fail. Something, tragically, the GOP does all too well.
This article is on Brinkley's Task Force which is being closed down due to State Department rivalry. When the DoD does a better job at stabilization efforts using normally civilian means, it gets the officials NOT doing their jobs, in an uproar. Last time I saw a State Department rep tasked with mentoring and working with his Afghan counterparts, he had been holed-up in a military compound for months, enjoying the amenities provided by the DoD. That was yesterday, too.
Remember when we tried running Iraq from the Green Zone, in 2003? Brennan did a number by raising unemployment and causing unrest when he closed state-run businesses and fired the military. What did those millions of people do for years? Well for one, we came to the brink of an Iraqi Civil War. The State Department was content with sitting on the closed assets for years waiting for private enterprise bids, in hopes of creating a capitalist democracy. Brinkley's team, in 2006, reopened the state-led businesses in order to get people working, paid, and off the streets. That's right, state-led. Does that sound like democracy to you?
Afghanis have to want it. Is there an Afghanistan? Or a british guy in 1947 who drew up the map to make afghanistan, pakistan and india. It will get there, In the meantime we have to stand on the sidelines and watch the bloodbath. I know people will not agree. But I don't want anymore of our "American boys and girls" dying for this war... This is not our fight... I'll cry for those injustices... but it has to be from ground up. not foreign. Just like Egypt. We stayed out for 50 years and it happened. Remember one thing as Gandhi said
"Whenever I despair, I remember that the way of truth and love has always won. There may be tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they may seem invincible, but in the end, they always fail. Think of it: always. "
what a pipe dream.
I think the better idea is to get all our troops out of Afghanistan now.
The small farmers of that country already have a booming market in opium, which our military quietly ignores when it doesn't actively support -