Recommendations for Improving Reintegration in Afghanistan by Including Women (June 2011)

Read the June 2011 recommendations of Afghan women leaders to the US government on reconciliation, reintegration, and transition processes.

Read the overview of Inclusive Security’s work with Afghan women leaders in June 2011. Watch videos and a slideshow.

In 2010, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan launched the Afghanistan Peace and Reintegration Program. Removing low-level insurgents from the battlefield and reintegrating them into Afghan society is the plan’s cornerstone. Fighters must lay down their arms, renounce violence, and accept the Afghan constitution; in exchange, they receive short-term economic benefits, and their communities become eligible for targeted development assistance. The international community has pledged some $150 million to the reintegration effort, with the United States and Japan contributing most of the funds.

Despite robust political and financial support, the reintegration effort has produced meager results to date. According to a recent story in The New York Times, only 1,700 combatants—of an estimated pool of 20,000 to 40,000 Taliban fighters—have been reintegrated.

During their visit to Washington, DC, the delegation of Afghan women leaders proposed a series of creative solutions to improve the reintegration effort’s success rate. Since local disputes drive much of the conflict, the delegation recommended coupling grievance resolution and local reconciliation with the ongoing reintegration effort to determine locally relevant, sustainable solutions. In addition, the delegation proposed the Provincial Joint Secretariat Teams responsible for determining the development assistance needs of communities that accept ex-combatants include a gender expert and consult with local women.

Key Recommendation to US decisionmakers on Reintegration (Read the full set of recommendations on reintegration.)

# 15 – Insist that Provincial Joint Secretariat Teams have:

• explicit strategic plans, approved by the Provincial Peace Council, for outreach efforts that specifically target women and youth, including the wives and family members of fighters. Plans could include door-to-door awareness raising, media (prioritizing local radio), and outreach events to schools and health clinics;
• specific indicators to track outreach to women and youth; and
• requirements for a gender advisor to be included as a technical expert.

# 18 – Develop a reintegration strategy in which grievance resolution coupled with local reconciliation is a critical component, taking into account the needs of victims and their families. Ensure the strategy is adapted to each region’s social and political dynamics. The strategies should include:

• opportunities for victims and their family members to register claims of grievances;
• facilitated exchanges between women from families of reintegrees and women of the communities to which reintegrees are returning;
• forgiveness-focused transitional justice processes aimed at breaking the cycles of retribution; and
• utilization of both modern and traditional civil society organizations for assistance with local reconciliation efforts and community-level workshops on peace.

Read the June 2011 recommendations of Afghan women leaders to the United States Government on reconciliation, reintegration, and transition processes.

For more information about Inclusive Security’s work on reintegration in Afghanistan, or Afghanistan more generally, please contact Michelle Barsa.