Afghanistan second weakest state in the world

• Posted on Mar 12, 2008

According to Washington-based Brookings Institution and the Center for Global Development, Afghanistan is rated the second weakest state in the world, lacking the capacity to establish and maintain political institutions, secure their population from violent conflict, control their territories and meet the basic needs of their population (see end of message for details)

Human Rights Watch World Report for 2007: Life for the average Afghan remains short, miserable, and brutal. Average life span for men and women hovers at around 45 years. According to the United Nations,nearly a third of all Afghans, some 6.5 million people, suffer from chronic foodinsecurity. Afghans face escalating violations of their human rights at the handsof a variety of abusers: the Taliban and other anti-government insurgent groups,including Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-e Islami and tribal militias, criminalgroups and local warlords (many with government affiliations), and, increasingly,the Afghan government itself. The insurgency in the south undermines develop-ment and reconstruction in the comparatively peaceful north, and as predicted,destabilizes neighboring Pakistan. The United Nations' assessment of areas con-sidered "most dangerous" and thus out of bounds for nearly all aid workers dou-bled in 2007 to cover one-third of Afghanistan.

Violence and Insecurity in 2007 was a bloodier year than any since the US-led forces ousted the Taliban in 2001. Casualty rates were at least 25 percent higher than the previous year. Civilians were increasingly caught in fighting between anti-government forces and government forces and their international supporters. Anti-government forces also routinely violate the laws of war by launching attacks from civilian areas.

The Taliban increasingly relied on public executions to terrorize and rule populations living in areas under their influence.

The Afghan government continues to lose public legitimacy because of wide-spread corruption, failure to improve living standards, and lack of progress inestablishing the rule of law even in areas under its control.

Afghanistan mission close to failing - US
After six years of US-led military support and billions of pounds in aid, security in Afghanistan is "deteriorating" and President Hamid Karzai's government controls less than a third of the country, America's top intelligence official has admitted. Mike McConnell testified in Washington that Karzai controls about 30% of Afghanistan and the Taliban 10%, and the remainder is under tribal control.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/29/afghanistan.terrorism

*Washington-based Brookings Institution and the Center for Global Development ranked 141 developing countries according to their performance in four core areas - economic, political, security and social welfare. [Afghanistan came second]. Index of State Weakness in the Developing World ;
http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2008/02_weak_states_index.aspx

Source for this Message: NCADC

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