Ashraf Ghani: Don’t donate to Afghanistan, invest in it
Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, Chancellor of Kabul University, gave a compelling talk at a TED conference about two years ago:
“The aid system is broken,” says Ashraf Ghani in this powerful, reform-oriented talk. He discusses how to mobilize capital for state-building; why technical assistance fails; and why classic economic theory proved useless in Afghanistan, which is “dominated by the drug economy and a mafia.” He emphasizes the necessity of investment (”A dollar in private investment is equal to 20 dollars of aid”) and design ingenuity to rebuild broken states. And he offers a blueprint: the 10 key functions that a state should perform, from providing infrastructure to enforcing the rule of law.
Watch the video of his controversial talk:
Here are some thought-provoking refutations:
So far in my TED explorations, this is one of the most difficult vids to watch/listen to because Ashraf Ghani appears so well intentioned yet so uninformed. He begins with the notion that capitalism has a world-wide consensus as the preferred form of economic system. Sorry, but as a citizen of what appears to be the most rampant capitalistic country on the globe, I do not consense to this nonsense. In fact the illusion of a world-wide consensus for capitalism comes from the media organs that are owned and controlled by the capitalsts who have used capitalism in their efforts at world domination and control. This consensus is manufactured by misrepresenting capitalism and portraying it with a glamour it does not deserve. So since Ghani says we should look at assumptions, it is important to look at the assumption of a consensus for capitalism and see that the consensus is manufactured by capitalists. Ghani’s talk is a perfect example of the uncritical assumptions.
- Gregory Wonderwheel
Mr. Ghani western elites, in their blindness and arrogance, are not interested in giving you anything. They want to use your country as a justification to generate money for the transnational that put them in power.
The AID system is just a cruch to get money to the unemployed graduate from thousands of universities.
If they do not provide “work” for the upcoming university students, there will be another 1968.
They are not interested in creating states.
- Harris Pohl
What do you guys think about Ghani’s approach to combating poverty and corruption in Afghanistan?
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Hah. Capitalism is a myth.
what? what? what?
I just fear any type of investment would mean the majority of Afghani people would be an even worse off. Everything would eventually be owned and run by elitist foriegners.
Why not improve security and increase the literacy rate, then you can talk about investments.
Improve security is right: isn’t the first priority to stay alive?
About 79% of Afghan women are illiterate, according to UNICEF.
Privatization and savage capitalism keeps the elitists in power who get away with raping us all in the ass. I don’t believe in “free market.” Globalization is a sick ideology aimed to help the rich few at the expense of millions of miserable individuals. I hope Mr. Ghani has other ideas in storage for possible solutions to end the corruption in Afghanistan other than empowering elites and ripoff investors.
Sorry, what I meant to say is that the ideals of capitalism are a myth.
how to increase literacy with the murder of those who teach girls? maybe , home tutoring?
Salama,
What form of commerce/system do you endorse for the Afghan people?
I was interested to read Harris Pohl’s comment that
Derrick Ashong, a Ghanaian-born activist musician with the band Soulfege, was saying that the problem in his country is that wealthy western donors give money for bread for the poor, but won’t invest in the efforts of university grads to engage in state building (capitalist or otherwise.) There is no “work,” only being able to stand in line for a handout. Reports on Palestine have come to the same conclusion, that aid without infrastructure-building and in the presence of an untenable situation of occupation does lessen the value and potential impact of money given.
Dr.Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai is part of the mafia who is involved in the land stealing of Afghanistan. He is using his power and clout to enrich himself in Afghanistan and wants to call it capitalism.
There is a specific case in which he has used his power and position to take advantage of the current justice and court systems in Afghanistan to steal a land from another person.
Mr. Ahmadzai it is very disappointing and demoralizing that a person like you would put your greed ahead of everything else. One would expect you to set examples so others can follow.
Rafiq, where is your proof on those claims?
Dear Esra:
Everything I say, I have proof for.
I am an Afghan-American, who came to the USA in the early 80’s.
And the land he stole is my family land. I have the deeds and all related paperwork. That can proof he is no better then all those warlords and corrupt officials, only out to enrich themselfs instead of using this historic opportunity to serve their embattled countryman.
Rafiq and Esra,
you both are pathetic and are just blaming Dr. Ashraf Ghani because he is not from your clan. You guys are tajiks, the immigrants, and this guy is Pashtun, the native of Afghanistan. Shame on you both. Instead you guys should try to forget the differences with the rest of Afghanistan and try to live as Afghans. He is your and my Afghan. An Afghan whose pride we should share as the rest of the world does.
Whatever Dr. Ghani says makes sense to me in his videos and articles. In addition I don’t think anyone has ever asked you that what are your sick beliefs and thoughts about him. If you can read and write, then please read the question and answer it accordingly.
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True side notes about Dr. Ashraf Ghani
Dr. Ashraf Ghani is well known for his clean and honest reputation in Afghanistan. One can only hate or dislike him if they are Tajiks, for instance Rabbani, Younus Qanooni, Fahim and other Warlords, who Dr. Ghani oppose and demand their trials in War Crime courts.
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answer to the question
I strongly agree with Dr. Ghani. Afghans should not be made dependent on the aid that is being to them by for instance the US and the EU, because that will give a upper hand to those countries and allow them to run the Afghan government the way they want them to run. Otherwise non-compromising Afghan governments will be replaced by other puppet US made governments. If the US is honest and have some sympathy towards Afghans, it should direct its aid and investments towards the building factories, dams and some industries to fulfill the basic needs of the citizens.
I strongly agree with Dr. Ghani. Afghans should not be made dependent on the aid that is being given to them for instance by the US and EU, because that will give an upper hand to those countries and allow them to run the Afghan government the way they want them to run. Otherwise non-compromising Afghan governments will be replaced by other puppet US made governments. If the US is honest and have some sympathy towards Afghans, it should direct its aid and investments towards the building factories, dams and some industries to fulfill the basic needs of the citizens.
Dude, I didn’t even criticize Dr. Ghani! I just asked for people’s opinions behind his arguments. Calm down please!
It says “Bahrain” next to my name, in other words, I’m not Afghan!
It is ironic however that you say this and then emphasize the difference by saying how ashamed we should be for being “tajiks.” You shouldn’t attack people like this simply because you disagree with them, and you certainly shouldn’t make assumptions about others implying that they are not “real” Afghans. If Rafiq has a different opinion, then so be it. It doesn’t make him any less Afghan than Dr. Ghani (side note: his last name means “rich” in Arabic, haha.)
Unfortunately they are not. But here we are talking about capitalism, a big part of which relies on foreign investments. So either way you are going to be heavily exposed to foreign influence, economically first and eventually politically too. If you don’t want foreign influence, then you wouldn’t be agreeing with Dr. Ghani “100%” as you claim! Please include more arguments in your comments and less personal and seemingly racist insults.
The Road to DisUnity of a Nation
In a rush to provide the world with a picturesque “post-Taliban” Afghanistan, the West needs to be careful not to leave Afghanistan in the hands of fascists. Where the Taliban left off, small nationalistic groups of Pashtuns took over. Waving their Western diplomas and certificates, these opportunist Pashtuns rushed to Afghanistan as the West cleared the way for them with bombs and bullets. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai is one of the many ethno-centric who saw an opportunity to take advantage of the weakened state and re-build the country according to their ideology. There is a great danger in continuously praising a man like Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai without understanding his true nature. Though he has numerous credentials, they do not provide any stability for Afghanistan or its people. In fact, his “qualifications” are only useful in allowing him to dazzle and blind the public to his true ways.
There is an existing threat in Afghanistan in the form of the Afghan Mellat party, a small segment of fascistic Pashtuns whose aim is to “Pashtunize” the country. Afghanistan is a country of many ethnicities with no majority: Tajiks, Pashtuns, Uzbeks, Hazaras, Turkmen, etc. The very existence of this party is evidence that nothing in Afghanistan was done right after the Taliban were ousted from power. The scale of diversity in the country was not addressed and instead, the Pashtuns decided to take their usual role of trying to rule the country, ignoring the fact that 250 years of their kind of rule is what brought the country to destruction in the first place. After decades of war and civil unrest, Afghanistan is pretty much back to where it started: ruled by the corrupted.
One of the well-known members of the Afghan Mellat party is Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and as stated before, it will prove hazardous to have someone like Ashraf Ghani underestimated. Recently, he has been nominated by Hamed Karzai to succeed Kofi Anan as Secretary General of the United Nations. It is important to exam the mentality that Ashraf Ghani has towards his own country before considering him for any post in the United Nations. The UN is an international organization whose function is to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, and social equity. Though Afghanistan needs help in every one of those areas, having Ashraf Ghani in the UN won’t alleviate their problems because, so far, he has not contributed towards the betterment of the country’s stability.
For all his work done during his term as finance minister, Afghanistan is still not where it should be economically after $8 billion in international assistance. The international community might see him trying to perform a great task but the people of Afghanistan know better. There is money in Afghanistan but it is in the wrong hands, as observed by many. Ashraf Ghani was extremely biased and did not properly allocate much-needed money to certain areas for educational needs, infrastructure, health facilities, etc. Poor farmers turned to cultivating poppy seeds, choosing the road of opium and heroin. Drugs have become the dominant feature of Afghanistan’s economy and corruption has ensued. Though he was named as the best finance minister of Asia in 2003 by Emerging Markets the title is more of a treat being tossed to a dog, so to speak. The international world needed to be shown some evidence of progress being done in Afghanistan without really delving too deeply to witness the miserable state the country and its people were still in.
Millions of dollars were spent during the fraudulent presidential election in 2004 to ensure Hamed Karzai’s election. In turn, with the backing of Zalmay Khalilzad, the US envoy to Afghanistan, Karzai would guarantee Ashraf Ghani, along with other fascist Afghan Mellati, key posts in the cabinet. However, once the new Constitution emerged, Ashraf Ghani’s dedication was put to the test. It was stated in the Constitution that members of the Cabinet were not allowed to have dual citizenships. He refused to give up his American citizenship and lost his post as the finance minister, and was replaced by Anwar Ul-Haq Ahady, who is even more biased than Ashraf Ghani. This showed that Ashraf Ghani’s interests do no lie in Afghanistan. If he truly cared in bettering the condition of the country and the people, he would have chosen to continue to remain as the finance minister. Millions of refugees decided to return to Afghanistan even in the midst of few jobs, poverty and hunger. As the finance minister, Ashraf Ghani would not even have to go through one third of the struggle as those refugees face.
After losing the post of finance minister, Ashraf Ghani was demoted to Chancellor of Kabul University. Though new schools are being opened all over, historically, Kabul University was the only University in the country. Here is a side that the world outside of Afghanistan never sees. Ashraf Ghani has zero tolerance for Farsi, though it is the indigenous language of Afghanistan. It is important to understand that not only is Farsi the indigenous language of the country and its people, but it also continues to be the dominant one with the forced rise of Pashto by the nationalistic Pashtuns. The majority of the country has its roots and culture deeply embedded in Farsi and to have an official so openly against it jeopardizes the peace and security of a society that has already faced years of foreign invasion and civil war. It’s well known that on his first day as Chancellor, when Ashraf Ghani entered Kabul University and saw the University signs in Farsi and Pashto, he personally broke down the Farsi sign which read “Danishgah” and proceeded to kick it around while stating that he did not want that sign around. He did this comfortably in the public, not caring who was there to witness his actions. Ashraf Ghani also closed down the only library in Kabul University because most of the books in the library were published in Iran. Iran and Afghanistan share the same language, Farsi, and since there were no academic printing houses in Afghanistan, traditionally, all the books in Kabul University were from Iran. Many of the professors in the University did not even have their masters in the fields they were teaching and they were not up to the task of translating academic textbooks and references from French or English or any other language. Iran, on the other hand, had the facilities to translate such works from other languages to Farsi. Since the beginning, Kabul University has always been taught in Farsi and has always gotten books from Iran and, realistically, it did not make a difference to the students where the books came from. The Faculty of Literature is the only department which has different language sub-departments such as Farsi, English, French, Pashto etc. Subjects such as Sciences, Mathematics and to some extent Social Sciences such as Anthology, Sociology, and Psychology are the same in any country and Literature such as Rumi, Hafez, Sa’adi are the same Farsi poems no matter where it’s printed. As the finance minister, Ashraf Ghani did not bother to provide funds in creating a new library or even academic printing houses. He suggests no alternative other than having English replace Farsi in the University. This is an outrageous idea because Afghanistan is a Persian language country and schools from grade 1 to 12 throughout most parts of the country are taught in Farsi. Students start learning English as a foreign language in the sixth grade and to expect them to further their higher education in a foreign language is ludicrous. In America, once students begin their own foreign language courses (i.e Spanish, French, etc.) in middle school they are not forced to continue learning in that language — unless of course it is their field of major in college. Ironically, Ashraf Ghani owes his own education to those Iran-published books because he was once a student in the University. Though they are different countries, America and Canada share English as a common identity and there is nothing to stop Canadians from reading American books or watching American movies and TV shows.
Not only is this a show of intolerance for Farsi but it is evidently intolerance towards education. Even the Prophet Muhammad and the Quran that Ashraf Ghani follows says “Seek knowledge…even if you have to travel as far as China” and “Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave.” Evidently, he is ignoring those important statements. During Prophet Muhammad’s time, China was a far place, not easily accessible as it is today but Muslims were still encouraged to go the distance in the name of education. In Afghanistan, the library in Kabul University was readily available to students but yet they were denied that privilege in furthering their knowledge. Other than Kabul University, the students did have not another choice for college. What kind of treatment should the students expect from someone like Ashraf Ghani who emits such hatred and biases against their language and their culture? He is enacting his own personal revenge against Farsi in any way he can, proving that he can not control himself in a professional manner. With this display of animosity and intolerance towards Persian, it can easily be stated that as the finance minister, his biases also lead him to make irrational decisions concerning finances. Ironically, one of Sa’adi’s poems graces the entrance to the Hall of Nations in the UN building. He will probably walk past that poem every day, wishing he could spit on it or tear it off and kick it around.
As written in the UNSG website, the Security General for the UN had to be someone who “understands the unique challenges of a world vexed by growing insecurity.” Ashraf Ghani’s reluctance in dedicating himself fully to Afghanistan as well as his blatant hatred for Farsi exemplify that he adds on to the growing insecurity of Afghanistan instead of alleviating it. His brother, Hashmat Ghani Ahmadzai is the chief of the Grand Councils of Kuchis (nomads) whose numbers realistically do not reach a couple of hundred thousands but are exaggerated by Hashmat Ghani to reach a couple of million in order to receive more aid money. Not only did Hashmat Ghani not bother finding settlement for the Kuchis but the aid money that was allocated by his brother through the finance ministry just changed hands between the two brothers and never reached the Kuchis. Once a former local fried chicken store owner in Brooklyn New York, Hashmat Ghani is now one of the wealthiest “Kuchis,” owning real-estate in the USA (Virginia and New York), as well as London and Dubai. He is clearly the opposite of what a true nomad is and can not efficiently represent the Kuchis of Afghanistan. And so far, the Kuchis have not seen any progress as one prominent tribal leader, Shahbuz Ahmadzai, pointed out. Securing your own interests and agendas seems to run in the family as both brothers share this trait.
Ashraf Ghani is clearly not for unity which makes him quite ill-suited for the United Nations. His actions should not be overshadowed with what the public is spoon-fed just to make it known that Afghanistan is “making progress.” The people of Afghanistan will prove otherwise. Many articles and essay written in Farsi/Dari regarding the truth of what is really going on in Afghanistan never get translated or even revealed to the public. Ashraf Ghani has only his own interests and those of his fascistic Afghan Mellat party in mind. He has used various resources to his advantage, building better contacts on his way up. He used Afghanistan as stepping stones for his own advancement. Being Chancellor of Kabul University can not compare with the role of finance minister or the prospect of becoming the Security General for the United Nations. And as much as it would benefit Afghanistan to be rid of a fascist like Ashraf Ghani and have him far away from the country as possible, it would become a bigger threat for the whole world’s security to have someone as unstable and conniving like him as the head of the UN.
copy paste hurts my gray matter
Abdul Ali Faiq bachem tu insan nameshe?