By Stephen Kaufman
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- Andrew Natsios, the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), said the United States planned to stay involved in Afghan reconstruction efforts "for some time to come."

"There has never been a long debate or any serious discussion about us not doing this work and participating with the rest of the international community in reconstruction," said Natsios.

Speaking January 11 at the Asia Society in Washington, Natsios outlined the approach and principles of U.S. humanitarian and developmental assistance to Afghanistan, and which projects were of the highest priority. He cited the need to focus on long-term reconstruction projects once the need for humanitarian relief had subsided.

"The sooner you start reconstruction the better off you are. We have learned that carrying on relief efforts for too long can be destructive towards long-term development. People can become dependent upon food assistance and other kinds of assistance ... the sooner we get out of pure relief, the better Afghanistan will be," Natsios said.

Natsios cited the re-establishment of schools as a particularly crucial project because it has multiple advantages beyond the obvious educational benefit.

He pointed out that prior to the Taliban regime, two-thirds of all schoolteachers were women. After women were barred from working, the educational system had essentially disintegrated. Re-opening the schools would lead to the re-employment of the women teachers, and contribute to their rehabilitation into Afghan society.

Re-establishing schools would also take the children off the streets where they could be targeted for recruitment into militias, or potentially cause trouble as vagrants, Natsios said.

Natsios highlighted his concern that the past twenty years of conflict had caused tremendous emotional trauma for the children, some of whom witnessed horrific atrocities committed against family members. School attendance, Natsios said, would create an environment of discipline and order, which would allow them to focus beyond their trauma. Otherwise "the desire for revenge will be destabilizing," said Natsios.

Natsios said that a principle governing U.S. assistance was the idea that the all reconstruction efforts would be primarily approved and performed by the Afghans themselves.

"There has to be an Afghan 'buy-in' to the process of reconstruction at the beginning. It has to be their program. It has to be their plan. It has to be their reconstruction, because it's their country. And if the program is going to be successful, the Afghan people and the Afghan elites have to accept it," said Natsios.

Natsios outlined the major projects USAID hoped to see accomplished in the short term: the resettlement of internally displaced persons and repatriation of refugees; assuring the security of food resources; re-establishing political stability in Afghanistan; and rebuilding a market economy in order to promote the growth of a middle class.

Natsios indicated he would leave Washington January 11 for a trip to Pakistan and Afghanistan. His visit coincided with the departure of teams from USAID who were going to the region in order to assist with the projects he had outlined.