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A hope in Helmand | Theo Farrell

Source: guardian.co.uk Politics

Nov 08, 2009

Summary

-Local governance is reestablished, schools rebuilt: Garmsir's success shows the way forward

The news from Afghanistan has been grim. The collapse of the second round of the national elections; Hamid Karzai's government tainted by corruption; and, last week, five British soldiers killed by a rogue Afghan policeman in Nad-e'Ali. All the while, Washington continues to dither over its strategy. Small wonder that the British public have lost faith in this war: 57% now think it unwinnable.

However, on the ground in Afghanistan things look a little more optimistic. I have just spent two weeks in Helmand, talking to dozens of civilian stabilisation advisers and military officers. Predictably, everybody complains about the shortage of helicopters (with good reason). But local governance has been reestablished this past year in the key district centres of Garmsir, Gereshk and Nad-e'Ali. And though the formal justice system has been slow to take root because of the difficulties of putting judges and prosecutors in district centres, in its place an informal justice system

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