Interview with Afghan vice-president

Vice-President Hedayat Amin Arsala is considered to be one of the leading moderates among the members of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's cabinet. Educated in the West, Arsala worked for the World Bank for many years, overseeing that organisation's activities in many South Asian and South East Asian nations. He participated in the anti-Soviet resistance in 1980s and was one of the leading members of the Rome peace group under the former Afghan monarch, Muhammad Zahir Shah. A finance minister and deputy chairman of the interim Afghan government after the fall of the Taliban in late 2001, he is one of the four vice-presidents and considered a key member of the transitional administration. In an interview with IRIN in the Afghan capital, Kabul, Arsala reaffirmed his government's call for the expansion of the international peacekeeping force, stressing also that reform of Afghanistan's security organisations was essential to improving security. He noted that sustained support by the international community, coupled with a constructive engagement with Afghanistan's neighbours, was essential to the country's reconstruction. QUESTION: What is your assessment of the Demobilisation, Disarmament and Reintegration (DDR) process that is beginning soon? ANSWER: My hope is that with proper planning and arrangements it will succeed. It's a must, anyway. One of the concerns is the time-lag between demobilisation and the dismissal of a number of people from the armed forces. If there is too much of a time-lag, then of course there is a problem, because right now we are trying to reduce the size of the army as much as we can, but the DDR hasn't yet picked up and hasn't started yet. The other thing is that one of the conditions of course of DDR to happen is the reform in the Ministry of Defence. Its reforms are a prerequisite for any DDR programme. Q: Security has emerged as the key threat to the peace process and humanitarian and development assistance efforts in your country. What measures does your government think are necessary to improve security in areas outside Kabul? A: One of the aspects that we are considering is to expand, if possible, the International Security Assistance Force [ISAF, the 5,000-strong UN-mandated multinational force guarding the Afghan capital]. If that can't happen, we would like to expand the Provincial Reconstruction Teams [PRTs, groups of the US-led military coalition to provide security as well as undertaking reconstruction in the provinces]. I think this will also help. The second thing is providing a more national structure to the government that will be acceptable to everyone in the Afghan society. As we go towards that, more confidence gets built up and support for the central government will be forthcoming. All this will go a long way in reducing the possibility of mischief on the part of those that undermine the current government. In addition, we need to have a proper national army and a well-trained national police force. We also need to reach an understanding with all the elements around Afghanistan, and that is not necessarily the people who carry guns, but those that influence public opinion, those that have either tribal influence or religious influence or other public influence so that they can ensure security in their areas. Q: How successful has your campaign been to collect the customs revenues for the central government in Kabul instead of regional strongmen collecting that for their own benefit? A: After the agreement we have had [with the provincial governors] over the last few weeks, things have gone smoothly. They have accepted our proposal of a centralised revenue collection system. Herat [province in the west], Kandahar [in the south] and Mazar [-e Sharif] in the north have accepted it, and we are getting results. From now on, the revenues will come to the centre and we will have no major resistance. Q: International media have reported that ethnic Pashtuns, who form the majority in your country, are not happy with the current political arrangements. As a Pashtun yourself, how would you elaborate on the issue? A: My feeling is that initially when the change [following the ousting of the Taliban] took place there were some problems, but we are moving towards normalisation gradually where everyone accepts that the Pashtuns cannot be left out of the power structure and they must have their due share in the government. Without that, stability cannot be possible. The issue here is not Pashtuns versus non-Pashtuns. Other ethnic groups were also uncomfortable with the situation. I think it's being resolved. What is important for us is to move towards a political system where everyone has a share in the democratic system. In the past, these ethnic issues did not exist in Afghanistan. It's only because of the war situation. Some people have taken advantage of the war and of certain grievances, thereby playing ethnic politics. Although ethnicity is an important issue in our country, it's not the central issue. The core issue is to have a proper structure of government within the key ministries. We are doing that by introducing new people to the Ministry of Defence to improve its ethnic balance. In the Ministry of Interior things have changed. These were the key things people were concerned about, and such changes will give people confidence that these are national institutions belonging to all of them. Q: An independent think-tank, the International Crisis Group, recently criticised the process of formation of the new Afghan constitution. How would you react to such criticism? A: I am not quite sure what they mean when they said that the constitution favours the groups already in power. If it means that the constitution has not been widely discussed, that's a separate issue. Obviously, different people have different opinions about the process. In some cases people will draft a constitution first and then hold consultations or vice versa. In our case we have tried to do the middle-of-the-road thing. On the one hand, there is a drafting committee, which has drafted something, and now they are seeking and gauging the public opinion through a process of discussion within the country and with the refugees in Pakistan and Iran. What really counts is what ultimately comes out. As for whether it really provides for the opinion of the people or not, if it can guarantee the right of political participation of all Afghans then we will be all right. Q: How do you look at the slow pace of rehabilitation and reconstruction in the country? A: As you know, for many years we didn't have, practically, a government in Afghanistan. Therefore, we didn't have readily financeable projects and programmes to present to the international community. For instance, the delays in the construction of a major highway between Kabul and Kandahar is not because of insecurity, it was more a lack of preparation of the projects. I agree with the assertion that the process of reconstruction and rehabilitation has been slow in terms of the official reconstruction programmes, but a lot of things have been happening in the country. If you go around Afghanistan, you will see bustling activities going on. The private sector is quite active, the farmers are rebuilding their farms, they have been rebuilding their houses, small businesses too have picked up and, in some cases, we even have shortage of labour. So there are sorts of mini 'booms' going on in the economy here and there. Such activities represent people's confidence in the future. Also, many of the NGOs and other aid agencies have done a lot of work around the country. The only problem that we had is to properly present our work to our people. Fortunately, we had all these rains this year, which will hopefully result in a bumper crop. We are now running into the problem of lower prices for our crops. We have also asked the World Food Programme and other aid agencies to make their purchases inside Afghanistan - not only for their programmes here but also for their projects elsewhere. Q: Ever since your government took over, more than 2. 5 million refugees and internally displaced persons have returned to their country and areas of origin. What are your major concerns about their reintegration and rehabilitation? A: One of the concerns I had even from the days when I was a part of the Afghan Jihad (in 1980s) in exile was that what will happen when all these people come back to Afghanistan. A lot of them have gotten used to electricity, they have gotten used to schools and education and almost an urban life, even if they were living in the refugee camps. I always thought that before the refugees could come, some of these things would have to be provided. That is still my concern, and some of them might still want to come to the cities, as our response to the villages might not be quick. My overall assessment is that things are not bad despite the huge returns. I can see a lot of difference from the day we came to Kabul after the fall of the Taliban and now, and throughout Afghanistan that can be felt. Nonetheless, we don't want a push factor in refugee return. It's OK if there is a pull factor from here and people are willing to repatriate. [But] there shouldn't be a push factor from Pakistan and Iran, because we need to absorb these people gradually. This will ensure stability in Afghanistan, which is ultimately good for our neighbours as well. Q: With many quarters in your government complaining of Pakistan's covert support to the alleged Taliban and Al-Qaeda remnants for cross-border military incursions, and still there are a lot of bitter feelings towards Iran, how do you look at regional cooperation? A: First of all stability in our country is to the benefit of everyone in the region. Anyone that thinks that our stability is not in the interest of Pakistan, Iran or other countries is mistaken. We certainly know that certain actions are taking place on the Pakistani border and people come from the other side. But we do not know who supports these kinds of activities. These could be Taliban or Al-Qaeda on their own or may be elements within Pakistan that might not be official elements, but may be supporting the insurgents. Our hope is that such kinds of cross-border operations are stopped even though the border is long and porous, and of course it's not always easy to do that. Nonetheless, there should be a joint effort as radicalisation in Afghanistan is to the disadvantage of Pakistan, as we believe that radicalisation here would be to the detriment of Pakistan. We would like our country to be a transit route between Central Asia and South Asia. Historically, we had the same role, and I think that we can play it again. Q: What are your government's immediate priorities for the future? A: Speeding up of our reconstruction is important. Improving our security structure is also significant. In addition, we would like the private sector to become active. We need to improve our investment laws. Of course, we have to improve our administration as a whole. Q: As your country swiftly moves towards the completion of the deadlines laid out in the Bonn accords of 2001 with elections being held next summer, how optimistic are you about a stable and prosperous future for Afghanistan? A: I was always an optimist even from the day we started the Jihad against the Soviets. I always believed that we would succeed. Now I am confident that we are going to have a stable Afghanistan that will play a very positive and constructive role in the region. However, we have some way to go and we will need the continued support of the international community for a while and also a constructive engagement on the part of our neighbours to play productive roles in our reconstruction and rehabilitation.