Columbia International Affairs Online
CIAO DATE: 8/5/2007
Center-periphery Relations in the Afghan State: Current Practices, Future Prospects
2002 December
Center on International Cooperation
Abstract
After decades of violence during which Afghanistan’s weak institutions broke down even further, the Bonn agreement of December 5, 2001, provided elements of a road map for rebuilding governance and security in the common interest of the people of Afghanistan and the rest of the international community. The agreement provided a timetable for key political benchmarks to be met by the interim and transitional Afghan governments, such as the convening of the Emergency Loya Jirga, the appointment of the constitutional commission, the adoption of the constitution by another Loya Jirga, and general elections by June 2004.
All these tasks, however, require the building or rehabilitation of state institutions. Without adequate security and a functioning administration, it will be impossible to hold elections and possibly meaningless to adopt a constitution. The Bonn agreement contains some general guidelines on state building, such as a statement of principle that armed groups should be integrated under government authority and reorganized, and the creation of commissions on the judiciary, civil service, and human rights. But the agreement does not say how the reorganization of the armed groups is to take place or how the recommendations of the various commissions are to be implemented. It effectively delegates these fundamental questions to the interim and transitional administrations, the constitution commission, and the Loya Jirga, and there is no timetable for these essential tasks.
