It is a mammoth task facing the new president of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani. The former technocrat World Bank intends to impose his style "modernist", which emphasizes the merit and accountability. A style that breaks with that of his predecessor Hamid Karzai, who was posing honor and loyalty to the clan first.
Sharing power with Abdudllah Abdullah, after months of dispute for the presidency, is a sign of hope: both men are pro-Western and against corruption. But they have not yet managed to form a government. Political instability paralyzing the economy, depriving Afghanistan of funds it desperately needs. The state budget amounted to 6.2 billion euros, of which two thirds come from international aid. To make matters worse, tax revenues have declined by 24% between January and October, compared to 2013.
But Afghanistan needs money, especially to continue its fight against the Taliban, its priority. Despite more assistance to 3 billion euros, Afghan soldiers and police complain about the lack of means to combat the fundamentalist movement, which never committed many attacks since his fall in 2001. 2014 has indeed been the the deadliest year for both civilian and for the military. 4,600 members of the security forces have been killed since the beginning of the year, or 6% of victims than the previous year.
Worryingly, while NATO must retire at the end of the year the majority of his troops, its combat mission coming to an end.
The 12,500 soldiers who will need to focus on training and support of Afghans, as explained by the Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance Jens Stoltenberg: "Afghanistan has a strength of 350,000 soldiers and police. They are trained, they received a number of facilities. And we will always be there with our support mission. "
Except that in recent days, Washington has extended by one year the combat mission of its 9,800 soldiers. The sign of a certain excitement.
