A small revolution at the scale of Ghazni

We thank the US Government for its support and we appreciate the hard work to help the afghan people. "This Tuesday, December 6, 2010, Sayed Abdul Baaser, the Mayor of Ghazni, a town between Kabul and Kandahar, does not hide his satisfaction. After negotiations with engineers and officers of the U.S. Army on an operational basis advanced the international assistance Force security in Afghanistan (Isaf under the acronym), it is additional help of some 250,000 dollars for the extension of the municipal slaughterhouse. It should be allowed to operate now to kill the livestock, and not just goats or sheep. A small revolution at the scale of Ghazni.

But Sayed Abdul Baaser has another reason to satisfaction: it can hold a Conference of press to European and American journalists, invited there by the Isaf. For him, this first meeting with Western media is a way of preparing the ground, before the great appointment of 2013. Because in two years, as decided by the Islamic Organization for education, science and culture (Isesco), the city will be nothing less than the "world centre of Islamic culture". In the meantime, there are bread on the plate: 100 million should be invested to modernize Ghazni. Councillor evokes some 20 projects, ranging from the construction of a system of irrigation for agriculture in parking lots, passing by the building of a museum or structures to welcome the delegates of the Islamic Conference...

Put agriculture at level

Typically the kind of sites that can count on the assistance of the United States. As major Davis, of the U.S. National Guard in Texas, it is indeed to develop agricultural production in Afghanistan "by introducing hypermodernes material, not bringing the country at least to the level of the 1970s". After thirty years of conflict since the Soviet invasion, two or three generations eventually lose their expertise in this area. The war against the Taliban today is also that of development. In total, the United States have released some 800 million dollars per year solely to assist local agriculture, with for objective to encourage the poppy crops. A way to fight against the trafficking of opium, the financial nerve of the Taliban insurgency. In Afghanistan, is no longer question of conduct only a military combat... "Poverty is certainly our greatest challenge, particularly affecting young people," recognizes a top American diplomat in Kabul. A relayed speech within the military staff.

Face more than a year now to a strengthening of the Taliban insurgency, especially in the provinces of Kandahar and Helmand, but also to the increase in attacks in Kabul even, Americans have decided to change strategy, by opening several fronts at the same time. If they have increased their workforce of 25,000 to 30,000 additional troops to bring the total number of international forces to more than 140,000 men, the United States and its allies have also focused on the training of local security forces, expected to take over from the western end of 2014 troops, as welcomed it President Hamid Karzai. Wide task... Now in charge of the command of international forces, General Petraeus himself is aware of the difficulties ahead and the risk of infiltration by Taliban to recruit by Afghan security forces. It is to this formula: "Train the Afghan army, is like building an airplane while it is shooting at him."

In some areas, the presence of the army and the Afghan police begins to produce its effects. Kilometers north of Kabul, in the dazzling the Panjshir Valley, the fighting seem very distant December month. The international forces are discrete. Afghan workers pose the last stone of the construction of a mausoleum to the glory of Commander Ahmed Shah Massoud, who was assassinated on September 9, 2001. On the Plaza that surrounds this construction in marble, tanks and armoured vehicles destroyed by the Warriors faithful Tajiks in the war against the Soviet Union (1979-1989) were left prominently, to celebrate the greatness of the "Lion of the Panjshir".

Bring the power

In the residence of the Government of the province, which dominates it also the river several kilometres from the new mausoleum, Governor Bahloul Bahij recalled that its citizens are always ready to fight "against the Taliban and terrorists." Today, his first wish is to continue the economic development of the province, which the subsoil is rich in ore, including iron. The other is to bring electricity throughout the Valley. The Russians, said, must build a dam and very long term, the Iranians also.

But this effort of development in quiet areas is far to bring sought stability. South of Kabul and to the East, the fighting are more deadly. Since 2001, the international forces have lost more than 2,200 soldiers and counted more than 10,000 injured. The year 2010 has been, in this regard, the more black. The number of improvised explosive devices has more than tripled year last from 2009. In addition, "the insurgency adapts quickly to any new tactics, says a top member of the Isaf. "We must continually reach change ours."

Every evening, in the vicinity of the Afghan capital, the local army supported by the coalition forces must therefore engage in military operations and the more often simple police. When they lead to the arrest or the death of insurgents, the soldiers of the fortified base of Isaf, in Kabul, welcome to have touched the "jackpot". But the releases of success - as announced, during our visit to Kabul, the seizure by the Afghan national police of a tonne of ammonium nitrate from Pakistan, a product used in explosives - are not sufficient to hide the difficulties on the ground. For all Isaf officers and diplomats posted in Kabul, it is clear that the solution to the conflict does not lie only in Afghanistan, but also in neighbouring Pakistan, where Afghan fighters have their rear bases. "So far, says a head of Isaf, in the heart of the ultraprotégée database located in the centre of the green zone of Kabul, the Pakistani army fought only against the Pakistani Taliban. Step against Afghans folding to the South of the border. "The hope is to see Islamabad, under international pressure, deciding to really fight these rear bases.

Fight against corruption

Another priority of the international forces is to fight against the main setbacks of financial assistance: corruption, become endemic in Afghanistan. At directly touch people close to President Hamid Karzai himself, as his half-brother in Kandahar. This corruption is also felt in everyday life. On the ground, coalition soldiers often complain to pay more than the Afghans all their products. "I must send my driver search gasoline because there are no stations on the basis and the price is twice that paid for by the Afghan people", is an officer in Ghazni. Another complained of the laundry, which was built outside the base, through money American. "A what are the taxes that my parents pay in the United States." plague. The best my laundry is poorly washed, at worst flying me each laundry business.

Create a legal system

For Afghans, corruption is today part of the daily. After an NGO, IWA (Integrity Watch Afghanistan), 28 of Afghans were brought to pay a bribe in 2009 to get access to a public service (hospital, police...). And in a country where per capita income is $ 502, paid bribes is 156 $... A high representative civil Isaf forces acknowledged that the main challenge in 2011 will be the question of "governance". In the fight against the corruption of the police, he says, their balance for example has been almost tripled. It rises now at $ 800 per month, paid in large part on U.S. funds.

The creation of a legal system is another issue of size. Initially, this mission was entrusted to the Italians by the Bonn Conference, which had followed on 27 November 2001 fall of the Taliban regime. Nine years later, no progress is noticeable and "today, it is rather the justice of the Wild West," said a General in the Isaf.

By the end of 2014, date scheduled Afghans of the handover, the task seems daunting. "With military 140,000, it can always return to cities and provinces, conceded a top commander. But the question is to be able to maintain. "A goal difficult. To be closer, the United States and its allies need to win the other war, development and reconstruction of the country. A race against the clock...

Afghanistan: behind-the-scenes of a report on lesechos.fr/TVlesechos.fr/TV