Defending Development: SAIS Alumni in Afghanistan While Washington debates a possible U.S. troop surge in Afghanistan, President Barack Obama’s foreign policy team agrees on at least one aspect of the war: More trained civilians are needed for stability, reconstruction and peacekeeping roles. In fact, the U.S. State Department wants to fill almost 1,000 civilian positions in Afghanistan by the end of the year. Approximately a dozen SAIS alumni are working in Afghanistan; with this “civilian surge,” that number is expected to grow. Undoubtedly, Christian Herter and Paul Nitze did not use the term “civilian surge” in 1943 when they conceived of a school to prepare young people for the ever-increasing U.S. role in world affairs. However, that is what they got. Over 66 years, SAIS has equipped more than 15,000 international relations professionals working around the globe. Starting in 2001, SAIS faculty and students alike took sides on whether this “ever-increasing position in world affairs” meant the United States should initiate military operations, first in Afghanistan and then Iraq. Eight years later, this intellectual exercise in international relations has become a reality in SAIS classrooms with an infusion of returning war veterans. However, you are still more likely to find SAIS graduates working for Mercy Corps than for the Marine Corps—all in the name of development, diplomacy and, yes, defense. SAIS alumni active in development in Afghanistan do not fit one mold. Steve Stull ’69 enrolled at SAIS immediately after serving in the Marines in the Vietnam War. Stull was recruited from SAIS by Citibank, fulfilling his dream of working abroad after years in Guam, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines. His most recent position took him to Bosnia for four years and Afghanistan for six, mainly working on finance, bank operations, payment systems and management capacity-building for small and medium-sized business. Stull said that, when he arrived in Afghanistan in January 2003 with a USAID development contractor, “we drove around in sedans without security guards. We’d go out and walk around the neighborhood. It seems [security] started to get tight with the presidential election in 2004.” That same year, the Small Arms Survey and the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue surveyed field staff from 10 NGOs and seven U.N. agencies to assess victimization levels. A third of those surveyed said their organization had mandatory security practices and limited their travel. Recent data indicate that security practices have only increased in the past five years. According to Stull, it “definitely inhibits [development work], even because of the impression it makes.” Pointing out security requirement discrepancies, he recalled how some of his colleagues at other organizations warned him to not visit their province if it meant bringing along his required security entourage. Devin O’Shaughnessy B’03, ’04 described his graduate education as key to his current fieldwork: “The concepts I learned at SAIS, having concentrated in Conflict Management, provide a useful framework for understanding the various dynamics here in Afghanistan, where ethnicity/tribe, religion, politics and history all shape the decision-making of the political actors I engage on a day-to-day basis.” O’Shaughnessy is the National Democratic Institute (NDI) director of Governance Programs in Kabul, where his work focuses primarily on building the capacity of provincial councils. He also works with the Free and Fair Election Foundation for Afghanistan, advises on NDI’s political party capacity-building and is an observer with its 2009 election observation mission. On security, O’Shaughnessy confirmed Stull’s assessment that some NGOs move about the country more freely than governmental groups. Nonetheless, he lamented his group’s lack of mobility: “The hardest part for me is not being able to just walk on the streets or in a park. And while I have nice relationships with our Afghan staff, it is challenging to really understand what life is like for ordinary Afghans. … The staff ask us to come to their homes for dinner, and unfortunately almost always our security department says ‘no.’” At the direction of Melissa Thomas, associate professor in the SAIS International Development (IDEV) Program, Noel Bauer ’09 compiled a review of studies on civilians working in conflict zones and intentional violence against them, entitled, “The Dangerous Business of Aid, A Report on the Risks to Aid Workers in the Field.” Quoting a study by the Overseas Development Institute, Bauer shows that, worldwide, “the humanitarian worker population alone has more than doubled from 136,204 in 1997 to over 290,000 in 2008.” At the same time, “development workers are increasingly asked to work in post-conflict or conflict settings.” The report indicates that violent acts against humanitarian workers have increased by 450 percent between 1997 and 2008. Thomas hopes “the report can contribute to a better understanding of the gravity and nature of these risks so that the school can help students better prepare for careers that involve fieldwork.” Joanna Buckley B’04, ’05 arrived in the Bamyan province of Afghanistan at the age of 23 with her new SAIS diploma in hand. Buckley put her IDEV concentration to work with the Aga Khan Foundation, then the European Union Special Representative to Afghanistan and finally the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. Despite the increased risks, Buckley encourages SAIS students to gain hands-on experience in development. She credits fieldwork as critical experience for her later political work. “Working at that micro level shapes the way you think about things as opposed to just thinking the way your institution does.” Buckley believes that development and military can work well together. “I learned—from the local Afghan population, military in the provincial reconstruction teams, development workers and the politicians—the importance of trying things and listening to people who work in different sectors.” Asked what advice she would give to current SAIS students, Buckley stated that “it’s such a privilege to learn about the theory. When you are actually working in the field, you rarely get the opportunity to sit back and think about why you are doing what you are doing, but that is vital ... that is what will lead us to success. SAIS helps you develop those fundamental skills.” Acknowledging the growing security risks to civilian advisers, O’Shaughnessy gave a positive big-picture outlook: “Setbacks, both in the deterioration of security and the disappointing level of fraud in the 2009 elections, can be discouraging. However, when you look at where the country was in 2001 and where it is now, there is clear evidence everywhere of improvements in economic development, women’s rights and even, to some degree, in governance.” [return to contents] | 
