Attachments
Foreword
Since the publication of the first Afghanistan Human Development Report in 2004, we have continued making progress towards democratization and development. Millions of Afghans participated eagerly in the parliamentary and presidential elections. The revival of an independent judiciary complemented and completed the structure of our young democracy. We built many roads, schools, and hospitals. Provision of public services has improved significantly, and now more people than ever have access to public services. A visible drop in infant mortality is an indicator that life is gradually improving for many Afghans, who have seen so much pain and misery in the past.
The income per capita has increased twofold since 2002, indicating that Afghans have earned more and therefore will be able to spend more. While this increase in income does not automatically translate into human development, we are committed to complementing our economic growth with social and political development.
In 2006, we entered into a new Compact, with our partners from around the globe on critical issues of security, governance, and social and economic development. Our preliminary strategy to achieve the timebound benchmarks in the Compact is outlined in the Interim Afghanistan National Development Strategy (I-ANDS). Earlier this year, Afghanistan became the newest member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), and we continue to reach out to our neighbors to resolve issues of mutual concern. Commerce with neighboring countries is growing exponentially, while a climate conducive to investment and limited industrialization is starting to take hold.
Regrettably, the last six years have not been a period characterized by solid advances alone. We continue to face many of the challenges outlined in my foreword to the Afghanistan Human Development Report 2004. Confronting terrorism, building effective security forces, creating jobs, countering narcotics, and combating corruption, in addition to building capacities for good governance and rule of law remain some of our most significant challenges.
In analyzing the challenges of human development and the rule of law, the Afghanistan Human Development Report 2007 advocates a bold and creative approach to strengthening the justice institutions in Afghanistan. While remaining committed to universal principles of human rights and Afghan laws, we believe that a more collaborative relationship between the state and traditional justice bodies can help make justice and the rule of law more readily available to Afghans.
The Government of Afghanistan may not agree with everything stated and argued in this Report, but it is pleased to see the constructive role that such an initiative can play in facilitating informed debate on some of the most pressing challenges facing Afghanistan today. It will surely influence the consultative process now underway towards the finalizing of the full Afghanistan National Development Strategy, particularly on issues related to the rule of law.
I would like to congratulate the Center for Policy and Human Development at Kabul University on the production of the 2007 Afghanistan Human Development Report during its inaugural year.
Hamid Karzai
President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
Preface
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Kabul University (KU) entered into partnership in late 2005 to establish the Center for Policy and Human Development (CPHD). The first Afghan policy research institution of its kind, CPHD has become the focal point of human development and policy research, teaching, and advocacy in the country.
The first major outcome of the CPHD is the Afghanistan Human Development Report 2007 (AHDR): Bridging Modernity and Tradition: Rule of Law and the Search for Justice. This second Afghanistan HDR explores the importance of the rule of law to human development. Establishing effective rule of law is essential to rebuilding the nation, restoring justice, shaping development and making it effective, and preventing a chaotic relapse into conflict. Because Afghanistan is emerging as a modern state in a society still anchored in traditional values, the simplistic approach of replicating existing systems of rule of law that evolved elsewhere cannot work here. The country's unique characteristics and their intricate interdependencies require an approach that is both complex and creative.
Bridging Modernity and Tradition argues that the rule of law in Afghanistan must be widely accepted, enforceable, and consistent with internationally accepted norms of human rights. It suggests that in Afghanistan, this can be achieved by combining the best practices of the traditional institutions of justice with the strengths of the modern justice system.
As Afghans continue to move forward in their quest for democratization and development, the theme of this report could not be more timely. The long history of this country is full of examples that bring together traditions with modern institutions and practices. Applied now, this approach can lead to broadening Afghan choices and strengthening national capabilities.
Afghanistan is well on its way to showing significant progress towards meeting the Afghanised Millennium Development Goals. This report demonstrates that gradual steps towards improved human development are being firmly taken. The Interim Afghanistan Development Strategy is the means by which Afghanistan and its international partners have begun moving towards the building of a prosperous future for all Afghans.
While Afghanistan still faces significant challenges, this report is itself a major step forward, certainly as compared with the circumstances under which its predecessor was produced in 2004. Not only did the 2007 AHDR benefit from increased awareness, greater data availability and additional resources; more significant, it represents a wholly Afghan product, born of a young institution housed at a premier Afghan University. The team responsible for this HDR were independent of both UNDP and Kabul University in their research, analysis, and the production of this report. We are confident that their insights will complement and inform other collective knowledge efforts now under way and that it will also support the development of the Afghan National Development Strategy (ANDS) and its finalization.
Further, we hope that Bridging Tradition and Modernity: Rule of Law and the Search for Justice Afghanistan Human Development Report 2007 has marked only the first step towards establishing an ongoing process of collaboration between academia and the national and international communities charged with making policy.
The United Nations Development Programme and Kabul University are proud to support CPHD in continuing its work, and its eventual emergence as a selfsustaining institution firmly rooted within the Afghan higher education system.
Anita Nirody
Country Director
United Nations Development Programme
Dr. Abdul Rahman Ashraf
Chancellor
Kabul University