The Other War Front: Economic Development in Afghanistan

Staff Author / December 13, 2010

The U.S. military has undergone a crash course in economic development while fighting the war in Afghanistan, and development agencies could stand to learn some of the military’s lessons.

Take for example the National Guard unit out of Indiana. The unit is called an “Agribusiness Development Team” and is teaching Afghan high schoolers about agriculture and business. The unit provides lesson plans on over 60 subjects, including financial management and record keeping. U.S. Army Major Jeremy Gulley is quoted as saying, “Improved education will illuminate the path to a future that thirty years of war has made impossible and unknowable.”

When a significant portion of insurgents are fighting for a paycheck and not out of ideology, education and job training can be effective tools in fighting the Taliban. (more…)