Usually, political updates from Afghanistan travel halfway
around the world through several satellites and news reporters
before reaching Americans.
But last week, a full lecture hall of UCLA students heard about
the progress of Afghanistan’s government directly from Afghan
Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah.
His lecture during the Politics and International Law
Colloquium, hosted by the UCLA School of Law, focused on the
challenge of rebuilding Afghanistan’s state and society after
more than 20 years of war, as well as the changes it has seen since
the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Since 1979, the country has experienced several invasions by the
Soviet Union, as well as civil wars.
Soon after the fall of the Taliban in early 2002, the United
Nations helped Afghanistan form an interim administration, in which
Abdullah was selected to be the minister of foreign affairs.
“We didn’t know where to start,” Abdullah said
of himself and other government officials. “It wasn’t
one issue, it wasn’t one challenge. … Everything was an
enormous challenge, and we had to take it and move
forward.”
And in the initial conferences that he and other Afghan
officials had with other countries, Abdullah said he did not even
know what to ask for.
“Is it for a few pieces of paper on my desk so I can start
working, or is it education? Is it health? What is it?”
Abdullah said.
Since then, Afghanistan has concluded the Bonn process ““
in which Afghan factions met to form a constitution and held
parliamentary elections in 2005 ““ and is facing the formation
of the five-year Afghan Compact with the United Nations this year.
The compact is part of an ongoing process to establish peace and
security under the law, human rights protection and economic
development.
Abdullah said one of the biggest challenges in that process is
going to be establishing a fair judiciary system.
But though it may be the most difficult step in the process,
UCLA School of Law Dean Michael Schill emphasized its
importance.
“Law is the central focus of all progress in our country
““ in our world,” Schill said to Abdullah after the
presentation.
Currently Abdullah said he believes one of the supreme
court’s biggest handicaps is the judges’ lack of
education.
“One of the questions we ask is, “˜What is the scope
of our judges’ knowledge?’ For 22 years, citizens were
deprived of an education,” Abdullah said.
If education is kept available to as many citizens as possible
from now on, he believes future scholars of Afghanistan will help
fill what he called an “intellectual vacuum.”
Since Afghan schools opened their doors again in 2002, there are
now more than 6 million students, of whom 35 percent are female,
Abdullah said.
Haroon Azar, president of the Muslim Law Students Association,
organized Abdullah’s visit, and said he saw a need to build
an academic partnership with Afghanistan’s burgeoning
government “in order to fill that intellectual vacuum that
resulted from being through 20 years of war.”
Azar said one of his hopes is to go beyond speaker events to
being able to send students to study in Afghanistan so they can
build their knowledge about the country and about international
relations.
“I vigorously pursued him to speak, specifically at the
law school, because we’re trying to hopefully in the future
establish some kind of relationship with the government of
Afghanistan,” Azar said.
Azar said he also believes there are other ways UCLA students
can contribute to Afghanistan’s political progress.
“I want people to know there are tangible things we can do
(for Afghanistan), even if we’re here,” Azar said.
“We can offer intellectual support.”