Shivers: Filling a void in Afghan government
ASP Adjunct Senior Fellow Mitchell Shivers, has just had an oped published by the Hill regarding Afghanistan.
Mr Shivers knows his stuff when it comes to Afghanistan, he is a former senior policy advisor at the Department of Defense in the George W. Bush Administration and the former senior advisor on economics and finance to U.S. ambassadors Zalmay Khalilzad and Ronald Neumann at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul
In the op-ed, Mr Shivers noted:
If it’s not the “perfect storm” developing in Afghanistan, with the ministers of Defense and Interior simultaneously departing their posts after failing to secure confidence votes in their national parliament, and, separately, the minister of Finance, under the cloud of corruption charges leveled at him by credible figures, it is certainly a nasty witches brew.
He went on to say:
All along, the effectiveness of the Ministry of Interior has been one of our biggest challenges. It’s various past leaders have been mixed in their reform efforts. One has even been the subject of damning intelligence reports indicating he was very much a part of the corruption and security problem…not the solution. But, recently, independent polling has suggested the Afghan public’s view of their police was improving. Will that remain so?
He concluded by saying:
Hopefully, Washington is all over this and is busy behind the scenes. Every American should hope so since security, in the region, and here at home, depends on a good outcome in Afghanistan.
You can read the full op-ed here.
