Fighting terrorism in Afghanistan: Peter Nichols puts the case for the New Zealand Provincial Reconstruction team as a useful model for the elusive goal of nation building.

• Author: Nichols, Peter

The current 'war on terror' is taking many forms. It has included a police-legal-judicial response to terrorist events. It has included a military response to attack terrorist training camps and terrorist bases. It has also included the UN endorsed military invasion of a terrorist-supporting country to replace the governing regime, destroy a terrorist organisation and rebuild the country to prevent the re-emergence of terrorism. In Afghanistan the process of nation building and national resiliency is well underway. Although the country and its infrastructure are fragile, its structures and capabilities are developing and evolving. A former terrorist supporting regime is being replaced by a democratic model based on national resiliency. A democratic presidential election occurred in 2004 and was followed by a democratic general election in September 2005. An integral part of this process is building security, national infrastructure and capability, and carrying out nation building activities to promote national resiliency to prevent the re-emergence of terrorism.

This article will briefly describe the background leading up to New Zealand's involvement and will then outline the role, aims and tasks of the New Zealand Provincial Reconstruction Team in Bamyan Province of Afghanistan, assess the team's effectiveness and its impact on the global war on terror. The provincial reconstruction team model is a valuable template for nation building in the war on terror. This assessment is based on the author's personal experiences in Afghanistan from January to August 2005 as one of five team leaders in the New Zealand team. Although the author served in only one of 30 provinces in Afghanistan, in a unique cultural environment, he ascertained over time that the New Zealand team's experiences were not that dissimilar to those of other provincial reconstruction teams.

Quick eviction

Following the 11 September 2001 al-Qaeda terrorist attacks, the United States supported the Northern Alliance to quickly evict the Taliban regime and force al-Qaeda to leave Afghanistan. The task of nation building then began through a process of security, considerable aid, the prospect of democratic elections and the building of government agencies and institutions.

International justification and support for nation building in Afghanistan is derived from the UN sponsored Bonn Accord. The Accord defined the following:

* Agreement on provisional arrangements in Afghanistan pending the re-establishment of permanent government institutions.

* An interim administration to be established consistent with UN Security Council resolution 1378.

* A UN mandated International Security Force to assist national security. This included training, demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration plus joint patrols.

* Elections to be held.

* The international community's help in the fight against terrorism and drug-trafficking.

Three major organisations were developed to implement the Bonn Accord. These were the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), the UN Assistance Mission Afghanistan and the US Operation Enduring Freedom. The ISAF was established on 16 April 2003 under UN resolutions 1386, 1413 and 1444. Drawn from the NATO Euro Corps, it comprised personnel from 31 troop-contributing nations with a strength of approximately 6500 (which had increased to around 10,000 by August 2005). The ISAF's mission was to support the government of Afghanistan and its successor in building and maintaining a secure environment in order to facilitate the re-building of Afghanistan.

The operation was initially to be called 'Operation Infinite Justice', but its name was changed to 'Operation Enduring Freedom' because 'Operation Infinite Justice' was offensive to Muslims since only God, in their eyes, can dispense Infinite Justice. Special Forces...