DAIMG Suggestions on the Response of the Islamic Emirate Afghanistan to the United Nations Strategic Framework for Afghanistan 2023-25

Introduction

The principal aim of the UN Strategy is stated on page 21 of the document. The UN states “Assistance will continue to be delivered in a manner that minimizes the legitimacy and benefits to the de facto authorities (i.e. the Islamic government)”. This statement exposes the true face of the United Nations’ humanitarian and development effort in Afghanistan.

The United Nation has since its inception (and especially since the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991) has been serving as a major instrument for the exercise of imperialist soft power. Imperialism has lost Afghanistan on the battlefield. It is now using the UN system (along with its specialized agencies) to subvert the Islamic regime and conquer Afghanistan.

The UN strategy represents outlines of a comprehensive attack on Islam. The basic ambition is to delegitimize Islamic values by corrupting the Afghan people (especially targeting women and girls) and attacking traditional cultural norms in Afghan society. This requires the creation of a rift between the Islamic government and the Afghan masses and generating social pressure for the erosion of Islamic values and norms which the UN hopes will eventually lead to the overthrow of the Islamic government and Afghanistan’s subordination as a normalized capitalist neo-colony.

Thus the Islamic government has no alternative but to ensure that this strategy does not succeed in its principal objective of delegitimizing Islamic values and corrupting the Afghan masses (especially women and girls). This paper begins by outlining the salient features of the UN Strategy and then suggests some measures that may be undertaken by the Islamic government to render it operationally ineffective.

An Outline of the UN Strategy

The secondary aim is to contextualize the imperialist humanitarian effort by promoting human rights, strengthening social capital and reactivate work undertaken by the ghaddar governments of 2002-2021. The Strategy is a short term socio-economic national plan. The plan is developed in “close coordination” (p. 4)) with imperialist agencies (especially the Afghan Coordination Group ACE)^[1]. The priority project areas identified by the UN and the ACE are:

1. Provision of essential services
2. Economic initiative and
3. Gender equality, human rights and rule of law of capital

The vision underlying the strategy stresses the need to empower “marginalized” social sectors – especially women--, strengthen local level governance systems and create capitalist justice. The “most marginalized” are identified as women and girls, children and youth, internally displaced persons, ethnic and religious minorities, homosexuals, Khachi community (p. 7). This strategy is to persuade the Islamic government to participate in the process of corrupting Afghan women by promoting their human rights.

The strategy articulates important goals of the UN political mission in Afghanistan. The implementation of the strategy will be undertaken by the imperialist forces, the ACE and its Strategic Thematic Working Groups. Promoting human rights is the main concern of the UN and the ACE. Structuring institutional change is also a major concern and the strategy stresses the need for “agility and flexibility” (p. 14) in its interventions. The 2023-25 Strategy is a revised, updated and expanded version of the UN Transition program for 2022 and it claims probably falsely to reflect the views of consultation with “community leaders, elders, ethnic minority representatives, civil society representatives and government representatives who were randomly selected from 33 provinces and consulted during September to December 2022 (p. 16).

The strategy aims to change the lives of the people of Afghanistan (p. 18) by targeting initiatives in the health, education, water and sanitation and “social protection” sectors. The Strategy seeks to “anticipate risks to unimpeded access to women and other vulnerable groups by strengthening community based systems and strengthening front line service delivery providers whose capacities have been built (by the ghaddar governments)” (p.18). “Concerted efforts will be made to (support) the financial sector” (p. 19) and encourage small enterprises. Employment intensive community structures will be promoted. Emphasis will be laid on “increasing participatory governance to counter Taliban centralization of authority” (p. 19). Promoting participation in governance structures is seen as “imperative” (p. 19) as is empowering of community based organizations and civil society employees and worker organizations (p. 19). Advocating secularization of society will be undertaken constantly. Attempts will be made to substitute Islamic law by the rule of law of capital (p. 19) i.e. laws in line with imperialist moral standards (p. 19).

Promoting the practice of human rights is the main thrust of the strategy. The concern is to impose imperialist norms and standards (called “international standards”, passim) on Afghan governance and social decision making and to turn women and girls and minorities into agents of imperialist rule. That is why “assistance will be delivered to minimize the legitimation and benefit to the de facto authorities” (p. 21). Civil society is expected to serve as an instrumentality for overthrowing Islamic rule. The UN expects that the Islamic government will gradually and semiconsciously be persuaded to cut its own throat. A key element in this strategy is promoting a liberalized version of Islam. The UN calls the Islamic rule “heterodox” (p. 23) and suggests the use of the Islamic Development Bank, the OIC and the Al-Azhar University to promote liberalized/secularized Islam (as practiced by the ghaddar regimes in Afghanistan) (p. 72-74).

Restructuring the institutional structures built during the rule of the ghaddar governments (2002-21) is a key UN project (p.25).

In the health sector the public health system will be targeted through “traditional strategies and (imperialist) guidelines” (p. 26). Emphasis will be laid on training female staff and the development of a health information system. Subnational coordination will be promoted. Surveillance of the health sector in accordance with imperialist guidelines will be institutionalized.

In education, the basic and higher education sectors will be targeted. Financing will be promoted to non-formal private and public education institutions. Teacher training and professional development programs will be promoted. School management systems will be developed in accordance with imperialist standards.

In the water and sanitation sector (WASP) the UN will seek to contribute to the development of water infrastructure and strengthen water resource management.

The UN will seek to provide income and employment support to women and minorities. Cash handout will be provided to supplement the cash for food program. Community assets will be built through “cash for work” and “cash for training” programs. Cooperation with imperialist funded NGOs will be vital in this respect as with hoped for collaboration with employers and workers’ organizations to find “entry points” (p. 29) in society. Psychological mentoring will be undertaken to achieve value change among the masses – inducing them to reject Islamic values. The government will be targeted to participate in “social protection” UN activities, Community Development Centers will be used to deliver UN sponsored imperialist protection services to the masses. Women and minorities will be extensively involved in protection work and will be induced to serve as agents for the imperialist secularization of the Afghan society. Attempts will be made to develop “clear and practical guidelines (along imperialist standards) in technical engagement with the de facto authorities” (p. 30) for cutting its own throat and paving the way for secularization of Afghan society.

With regard to the economy the UN will seek to institutionalize trade unions and employers associations for social secularization. Capitalist market structures will be developed. Agri-business, handicraft and the clothing sector are targeted. Food distribution systems will be manipulated. Female employment will be advocated. The UN and the World Bank will develop forecasting modules to develop future macroeconomic scenarios.

Technical assistance will be provided to financial sector institutions to develop interest and speculation based financial product for specific sectors. Remittance and payment system will be overhauled. Attempts will be made to connect the Afghan financial sector to imperialist money markets through re-establishment of correspondent relationships of Afghan banks with imperialist bankers. Financial guarantee schemes will be operationalized.

The UN will support small and medium enterprise, the agribusiness sector, the IT startups and training (TVET) programs. Capacity building of rural communities is a key target of the imperialist strategy. Geographically targeted interventions are envisaged. Small scale community infrastructure – roads, water, harvesting, energy, distribution construction-- is also envisaged. Selected government institutions (central, provincial, district, local and semi-government) may be invited to participate in these projects. They will be encouraged to promote the capitalist restructuring of market, commodities and policy structures. The Afghan Chamber of Commerce & Industry is specially targeted for this purpose. It is hoped that macro-economic (especially financial) policies will facilitate the operationalization of a capitalist economy in Afghanistan.

The UN seeks to promote the rule of law of capital and the promotion of capitalist human rights in Afghanistan as its primary concern. This aim is to be achieved by promoting mass participation in governance structures especially at local levels and at “economic, social and cultural levels” (p. 36). Strengthening capitalist society (civil society) especially women and youth led capitalist society is a key target. So the UN will provide support to “independent” (i.e. imperialist) media and obstruct the growth of “harmful” (i.e. Islamic) social norms (p. 36). The Islamic government will be persuaded to abandon their “harmful” (Islamic norms at all levels) (p. 36). Local government and professional public officers will be specially targeted. Efforts will be made “to align Afghanistan’s normative and legal framework with international (i.e. capitalist imperialist) human rights” (p.36).

Participation of existing and potential secular forces in government decision making at all levels will be promoted. The UN will facilitate the “establishment of local mechanism within and across communities” (p. 38). Women participation in these structures is a key target. Agitation will be encouraged in support of obedience to capitalist law. The UN will “lead” (p. 38) this agitation. The development of a constitutional framework that upholds imperialist means will be insisted upon. Attempts will be made to undermine the family system and delegitimize private life practices. Extensive funding will be poured to capitalist society, NGOs to subverting Islamic values by maintaining “bottom up” social pressure on governance processes at all levels will be financed. The UN hopes to engineer “mass behavioral change” (p. 39) to undermine the legitimacy of Islamic values. It works to corrupt “the daily life of women and girls” (39) an

d use grassroots financial institutions to achieve this end. “Harmful (i.e. Islamic norms and values) that have normalized” (p. 39) will be uprooted from Afghan society. Humanitarian and imperialist funded NGOs and some Community Development Councils are expected to play a major role in this endeavor. Shuras and Jirgas will be sought to be associated in imperialist legal and human rights advocacy and implementation. “Active efforts will be made to finding practical ways for increasing participation in local structures” (p. 39). It is hoped that Al-Azhar University will be utilized to further imperialist legal legitimation (p. 40).

The UN hopes that “incremental progress is possible” for converting national legal and constitution processes to align with imperialist norms and legal frameworks. The UN strategy will be implemented through the imperialist NATO allied Afghan Coordination Group (ACG) (all ACG members are NATO members). ACG will coordinate the program of the UN entities, imperialist bilateral donors, international financial donors and NGOs. Under the leadership of the UN Secretary General’s Special Representatives for Afghanistan (DSRCE/RC/HC) the UN Country Team (UNCT) is the primary mechanism for interagency coordination. UNCT has established a Program Management Team (PMT) and an Operation Management Team (OMT). Results groups are responsible for technical level operationalization and sectoral level coordination. Several research groups have also been established. Funding for the implementation of the Strategy is entirely from imperialist sources. The Common Country Analysis (which monitors strategy implementation) will be updated annually. Disaggregated detailed data collected is analyzed, Risk monitoring will be crucial and risk analysis and contingency management will be integrated into the strategy implementation process.

The UN sees its stay in Afghanistan for an extended period as the primary agency for exercising imperialist soft power and “winning back” Afghanistan for NATO. The ACG will play a crucial role in monitoring the articulation of this UN strategy.

UN agencies for the exercise of soft imperialist power in Afghanistan include the World Bank, ILO, IOM, UNESCO, UNIFPA, UNICEF, UNMAS, UNCDC, UNCPF, UNDP, UN Women, WFP and WHO.

Domestic groups that are to be used for the imperialist soft power promoting include Community Development Centers, Shura, national NGOs, private sector service providers, technical education and training initiatives (women’s group, Youth group, employees and workers organizations etc.

Action Plan for our Response to the UN Strategy

Since the principle purpose of the UN strategy is to “minimize the legitimacy of the Islamic government” (p. 21), we must regard it as a combination of the imperialist war effort of 2002-21. We must remain committed to defeating the United Nation’s effort of separating the Afghan masses from the Islamic government. We must recognize that the United Nations and its specialized agencies (the World Bank, WHO, WFP etc.) are instruments for the exercise of imperialist soft power.

The success of this UN strategy will mean the overthrow of the Islamic government. This is to be activated through humanitarian and developmental encirclement of state power and the establishment of an alternative capitalist administration initially at the mass grassroots level but gradually submerging the entire national governance process. The imperialists seek to win the war they lost in the battlefield through economic and social sabotage.

In order to defeat the imperialist “soft” attack on our national independence we must develop an appropriate macroeconomic policy framework to contextualize our specific responses to the imperialist attack. In this section we first outline this macroeconomic policy framework and then present specific suggestions to counter the UN strategy^[2].

• 1. The Macroeconomic framework for defeating Imperialism’s Soft War Effort

Alhamdulillah we have overcome many economic obstacles during 2022-23. State resources have increased. Exports have grown. Inflation is under control. The exchange rate has stabilized. Corruption has been largely eliminated and the security situation has improved. DAIMG is however not aware of major institutional changes in economic administration and DAIMG has argued that there is need for overhauling the economic administrative system. Four of our recommended changes are of importance in meeting the UN strategic challenge.

1. The establishment and implementation of system wide mass planning. We must urgently develop a comprehensive mass based national economic plan outlining medium term targets for output growth, investment and employment at the sectoral and sub-sectoral major enterprise level. The formulation and implementation of the planning process must be mass based with planning units set up at enterprise, local, district, provincial and central administration levels. The planning system must enable a constant flow of information and decision making form the lowest to the highest tiers of the planning system and vice versa. The planning system must involve hundreds of thousands of workers so that the masses own and operate the plan and actively participate in its formulation, execution and revision.
2. The establishment of a network of Dawah majalis linked to the planning mechanism at all levels – enterprise, market, local, district, provincial and central – and led by ulema and tribal chiefs. The function of the dawa majalis will be to promote Islamic virtues – Sabr, Tawakkul, Qana’at, infaq) and to debauch the propaganda regarding human rights and the rule of capitalist law. The dawah majalis will represent the employees and customers within the planning system effectively supplementing trade unions and employer associations. The dawah majalis will be the main channel of the distribution of health facilities (combining dua with dawa) closely linked with the public & private health systems.
3. The establishment and operationalization of a nation-wide network of supply distribution units again stretching from the enterprise/local to the central level. The supply network will assess demand/supply balances at district and market levels of grain and other essential commodities and organize transfer and distribution of these commodities from surplus to deficient markets and localities. It will through the work of mohtasib play a role in price determination and market organization.
4. The replacement of the existing financial system by a tamveeli system. Da Bank Afghanistan will be the sole issuer of currency. Distribution of this currency and its circulation will be organized through a nationalized banking system on the basis of comprehensive currency and credit planning. All foreign currencies will be sequestered to Da Bank Afghanistan which will convert them into Afghanis at government determined exchange rates. There will be no money and capital markets in Afghanistan and foreign currency allocations to importers and others will be initiated in accordance with national production and investment needs as determined by the national plan^[3].

Adopting and implementing these policies is essential for the development of a jihadi (not a welfare) economy in Afghanistan and for the consolidation of Islamic rule. DAIMG submits that the process of macro institutional change begin immediately and be completed by mid-2024. DAIMG remain ready to participate in efforts required to deal with practical problems faced in implementing these institutional changes.

• 1. Deconstructing the UN Imperialist Strategy

1. Advocacy measures must be designed and articulated throughout the governance system (local, district, provincial, central) to educate policymakers about the role that the UN plays within the imperialist system. It is not merely a technical agency nor does it represent “the international community”. It represents imperialist and NATO powers and has since 1991 served as an instrument of the exercise of imperialist soft power throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America. By attempting to separate the masses from the governance structures of the state it is working towards the overthrow of Islamic rule in Afghanistan – hence its commitment to “minimizing the legitimacy of Islamic rule” (p. 21).
2. It seeks to achieve this by promoting the vices of hirs (avarice) and hassad (covetousness) among the masses, especially among women and the minorities. It seeks to legitimize human rights and capitalist law at the mass level. Human rights are a means for creating capitalist individuality and humanitarian intervention has always served as a means for capitalist domination. The rule of capitalist law is a means for societal secularization and erosion of Islamic values and practices. Capitalist law necessarily displaces the Sharia and human rights displace حقوق العباد. There is therefore an urgent need to launch a nation-wide advocacy campaign against the human rights and capitalist law ideologies. This campaign must especially target state policymakers, women and youth, the minorities and the masses in general. We must convey to the masses the message that accepting human rights ideology leads to an abandonment of the Islamic way of life and traditional Afghan culture and undermining family structures delegitimizing the social prevalence of عفت و عصمت^[4].
3. Unfortunately, a section of the Ulema in the Muslim world have legitimized human rights and capitalist law. Al-Azhar is a prime example of this which has done so in the service of Nasser, Sadat, Mubarak and Seesi regimes. Platform space should not be provided to such pro-imperialist scholars in Afghan public life.
4. Corrupting Afghan women and girls is a major objective of the imperialist strategy. The national Dawah effort must concentrate on raising women’s Islamic consciousness and the sanctity of private life. Women are the custodians of the Islamic revolution and its core values. They must be induced to realize this and a nation-wide network of women dawah groups must be functionalized immediately. Employers of women in both the public and private sector must be encouraged to use internet technology so that women employees can do home based work. We must make now compromises to the imperialist project of bringing women into public life.
5. The national plan must realistically estimate our need for UN (and humanitarian) financial support in the health (Projects related to contraception will be terminated immediately), water and sanitation and agricultural (food) sectors. The plan will also develop a strategy for meeting these needs from domestic sources arising to terminate the UN’s assistance program by at latest 2027.
6. UN projects related to the education sector, community development, social protection, economic stability (including financial programs) private sector investment and social cohesion will be immediately discontinued.
7. A UN Supervision Unit will be created within the central Planning Ministry and the UN will be required to submit all projects in the sectors identified in (e) above for formal approval by the Ministry of Planning. The UN and World Bank will not be allowed to operate projects without the approval of the Planning Ministry.
8. The head of the UN Supervision Unit in the Ministry of Planning will be a member of the Program Management Team of the UN strategy. He will be an ALIM and his representatives will also be members of the Operation Management Team of the UN program
9. Non-Project data collection by the UN will be prohibited as this data normally presents a false picture of the Afghan economy and society and is normally used for imperialist program purposes.
10. Community development Councils and Public management units established under the ghaddar governments will be discontinued and shuras, national NGOs, TVT groups, women’s groups, youth groups and workers and employers organizations will be legally prohibited from participating in UN projects and programs. The UN will not have any access to local, district or provincial governments. Thus participating in UN data collection surveys will be continuously identified and be liable to legal prosecution.

It is hoped that the implementation of these proposals will delink the systemic subversive impact of the UN strategy for “minimizing the legitimacy of the Islamic government”. (p 21).

1. The ACE document “Framework for Internal Parties Support should also be studied casually. ↑

2. The strategy of the Humanitarian group can also be studied.DAIMG has presented a paper articulating an analysis of the World Bank’s project program for 2023-2025. ↑

3. Details of these policies are outlined in the DAIMG document, Developing A Planning System for Islamic Emirate Afghanistan. ↑

4. See DAIMG’s book Capitalist Values and Ideologies (chapter 3 and Appendix V) and دروس سرمایہ داری Chapter 4 for a discussion of human rights ideology and practices. We are also preparing a paper contrasting human rights with حقوق العباد. We recommend that this material be translated into Pashto and Dari. ↑