Change the Deal

The coalition has invested in a number of staffing programs to seed the Ministries with young bright Afghans as well as seasoned professionals.  Some are very expensive, while others not so much.  It’s an aspect of many years and many chefs trying to make this place work.  Up until this point, the coalition has footed the bill, but if sustainability has any chance of succeeding, these disparate programs need to be streamlined and reengineered so the Afghans have skin in the game.  The latest program being developed requires the Afghans to pay 50% of the salary of senior advisors from day one and we pick up the rest.  The thought being that the locals will be more critical of the positions they want filled.  Yet, recently the Afghans asked to do away with the transparent hiring procedures to quickly hire those they want by name.  We don’t need another patronage network in this country, so we have resisted.   They like our free money, but not so much the strings.  Weeks go by…..and a new request arrives for the coalition to pick up the entire salary tab for the first six months and they would fund the rest later…..or better yet if we could pay it all for the year.  They have nerve.