Afghanistan's Willing Entrepreneurs: Supporting Private-Sector Growth in the Afghan Economy.

• Author: DeAtkine, Norvell
• Position: Brief article

A publication that represents the collective thought of the Center for New American Security scholars and pundits is always of interest in that the center has the reputation of being a think tank involved in the current administration's foreign policies and in harmony with its view of the world.

Written by two former combat veterans with time on the ground, they offer some well developed recommendations and not so surprising views of the current Afghan regime. While the argument rages on--from Iraq to Afghanistan--on what comes first, security or economic development, the authors lament the lack of US emphasis on the economic private sector. In conducting 130 interviews with business people in Afghanistan, they see significant possibilities for the Afghan private sector and provide a number of examples of Afghan initiative and success in starting and growing businesses.

What is clear in this article is that these successes were achieved despite the Karzai government, which business people regard as corrupt and an impediment to the private sector. The uncertainty of the environment, not the...