Thoughts on Institutional Reconstruction

Here is a picture of my international law class taken from the roof deck at IDLO. I am in the crowd somewhere. it was a wonderful experience and I enjoyed meeting these young professionals from Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) very much indeed. Most of my class were junior/mid-level professionals under 30 years old. Even most of the senior MoFA people I met were quite young. This is perhaps one of the grim realities of Afghanistan's recent history--that 30 years of unremitting war and regime swings from Communism to radical Islamism to the current government have severed or at least severely frayed the institutional continuity with the past. Just like buildings and other hard assets, institutions also can be destroyed and need to be rebuilt sometimes from the ground up. MoFA and so many other Afghan institutions are doing just that. True, in many ways MoFA is a mess, but considering where they started (with nothing) and considering the liabilities they carry (legacy of war, ethnic animosity, refugee problems, ongoing insurgency, lack of skills, funding, etc.), I think these young people, and their superiors can be proud of what they HAVE accomplished. I wish them the very best for the future.