Working Paper No.51
'Good' State vs. 'Bad' Warlords? A Critique of State-Building
Strategies in Afghanistan
Antonio Giustozzi
Crisis States Research Centre
October 2004
The current Afghan government, having weak social roots has been forced
to rely on the support of ‘warlords’ to stay in power. But a high price had to
be paid. Despite the predominant stress in much current analysis on the issue
of regional warlordism, the limited reform achievements in the Kabul ministries
and the enduring domination by the militias of some key ministries are
potentially much more threatening to the reform and re-establishment of the
Afghan state. Widespread corruption is preventing some key ministries from
achieving the minimal effectiveness required. Even within Kabul, the focus of
the international community has been misplaced. In particular, the pressure of
donors on the Ministry of the Interior has been nowhere near as strong as that
exerted over the Ministry of Finance. The international community also failed
to support adequately the attempts by ‘civil society’ to change the corrupt
practices of the state administration.
Other Crisis States papers by Antonio Giustozzi:
Working Paper No.33 (September 2003)
Respectable Warlords? The Politics of State-Building in Post-Taleban Afghanistan
(Antonio Giustozzi)
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