Key Elements Lacking for Afghanistan Peace
by Christine Jacobs

None of the fundamentals are in place for a sustainable peace in Afghanistan, according to Peggy Mason, chair of the Canadian Peacebuilding Coordinating Committee and a member of WFMC Council.

Ms. Mason told a recent meeting of world federalists in Montreal on Canada’s future role in international peacekeeping that, in the post-Cold War era, the scope of peacekeeping operations has widened and now encompasses all the elements necessary to help parties in conflict to implement a comprehensive peace settlement.

With increasing numbers of complex, multidisciplinary peacekeeping operations, much has been learned; the UN has gained extensive expertise in helping parties negotiate agreements. Three key issues must be addressed if peacekeeping is to be effective: the consent of the parties, the creation of a comprehensive framework and the coherence of the international assistance effort.

A comprehensive peace agreement must address all relevant issues underlying the conflict, Ms. Mason said, to lay the political, security and socio-economic foundations for a sustainable peace. These include:

• the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration into civil society of former combatants;

• the strengthening of the rule of law;

• technical assistance for democratic development;

• improving respect for human rights;

• reform of the military;

• rehabilitating economic infrastructure;

• promoting sustainable development when the situation is sufficiently stabilized; and

• a balance between justice and reconciliation processes.

The negotiations must involve all internal (i.e., government and rebels, or all sides of a civil war) and external actors to the conflict. The more factions are excluded from the negotiations, the less will be the chance of success.

The process must include the general public; it must not be limited to the elites and military leaders. The cooperation of neighbouring countries not directly involved in the conflict is also essential to a sustainable peace.

Where individual members of the UN Security Council have their own vested interests and agendas, it will be critically important for the negotiation to be facilitated by an impartial third party with the requisite expertise.

Implementation is where the multidisciplinary peacekeeping mission comes into play, Ms. Mason said.

For such a complex effort at social engineering to have any chance of working, a multilateral framework is necessary for the international community to work within, freely negotiated and agreed to by the parties. The mandate for the peacekeeping operation must be based on the comprehensive peace agreement.

If only because no other single entity is acceptable to the international community, only the UN can mandate a comprehensive multilateral peace implementation framework that would legitimize international action and only the UN can lead the overall peace implementation process.

The aim of the peace operation is to help the parties build the democratic institutions and processes that will enable them to manage societal conflicts in a non-violent way. A robust force can deter violations, effectively address them when they occur, and thus build confidence in the peace process.

In Afghanistan, virtually every one of the prerequisites were not, and are still not, present, Ms. Mason said:

• There have never been comprehensive peace negotiations.

• Key parties to the conflict, most notably the Southern Pashtuns (the largest single tribal group in Afghanistan), were lumped in with the Taliban who were in turn lumped in with Al Qaeda and left out of the agreement.

• Key neighbours such as Pakistan, Iran, and India were not involved.

• There is no overarching framework for peace implementation but instead a plethora of lead nations working on specific issues that they have been completely ill-equipped to handle.

President Hamid Karzai has realized he must negotiate but, incredibly, this is being opposed by the NATO-led force that is supposed to be there to help him achieve a measure of security and stability; and what Karzai
is trying to do is reach yet
another backroom deal.

What is urgently needed is a UN-led broadly-based political dialogue in Afghanistan and Canada can help secure support for it within NATO. Canada’s efforts at resolving conflict and building a sustainable peace must take place within a ‘whole-of-government’ peacebuilding framework that is itself embedded in a UN-led international strategic framework.

Christine Jacobs is a Montreal member of WFMC.