Final evaluation Netherlands participation in ISAF 2006 - 2010

The expectation is that meaningful improvements will be achieved duringthe currently planned deployment period, which will lay the foundation forfurther reconstruction activities. In 2010 the Netherlands hopes to lookback on a successful Uruzgan mission, whereby government authoritiesgained a firm foothold in one of the very poorest and least developedprovinces in Afghanistan, thereby making basic government servicesavailable to civilians.”And:“In the judgement of the Netherlands’ government, the success of themission is primarily dependent on the government and provincialadministration of Afghanistan gaining legitimacy, on human rights playing agreater role, on dealing with corruption, on democracy gaining more roomfor manoeuvre, and on the peace dividend becoming visible for thepopulation.”3.6 Socio-economic developmentIn the Article 100 letter of 2005, the policy framework for socio-economicdevelopment was defined as follows:“The policy framework for the Netherlands’ efforts in the area ofreconstruction in Uruzgan will be provided primarily by the «AfghanistanCompact», to be adopted during the London conference and which willprovide benchmark points for good governance and development, andsecondarily by the Interim Afghan National Development Strategy which willbe presented during the London conference and which will serve as a«Poverty Reduction Strategy»”Particularly the I-ANDS, the national sectoral programmes and the civilassessment based on these were important during the conduct of themission. In 2000, the member states of the UN agreed that by the year2015 significant progress had to be made in the areas of poverty,education, health and the environment. To this end, the UN establishedeight concrete objectives: the so-called Millennium Development Goals(MDGs). In 2005, the Afghan government translated these MDGs into itsown national goals and incorporated them in the I-ANDS.More specifically, the Article 100 letter of 2005 states:• Links with national Afghan programmes will be sought in Uruzgan.• Major initial areas of attention will be:o reform of the judiciary and the police;o implementation of the DIAG disarmament programme;• Reconstruction projects in the areas of good governance and socioeconomicdevelopment are conceivable.• Strengthening local governance can focus on a number of areas,such as increasing the effectiveness of governance through capacitybuilding,enhancing the representativeness of governance andpromoting the transparency and integrity of governance.• The sectors most suitable for socio-economic reconstruction will beselected in close consultation with the national and localgovernments and the population, preferably as part of a provincialdevelopment strategy. Preference will be given to areas where theNetherlands could provide added value, possibly education forwomen and girls, water management and cattle farming.• In addition, the PRT will encourage, and where possible, facilitatereconstruction activities of NGOs.• Efforts will be made to cooperate as much as possible with DutchNGOs that are active or want to become active in Uruzgan.Page 27 of 133