The US Under-Secretary of State, Nick Burns, has opined that the world needs a figure of the status of Paddy Ashdown in Afghanistan, where the successful implementation of peace, security and good governance is proving problematic. Paddy rubbed a lot of local politicians’ fur up the wrong way when he was High Representative in Bosnia, but he is widely credited with ensuring that that country returned to a semblance of normality and has set it sights realistically on EU membership one day.
When the Guardian contacted Paddy about Burns’s suggestion, he half demured, commenting that the mandate of any international repersentative in Afghanistan is more imporant than the personality. I can see the truth in that, but it is undeniable that there are few people of Paddy’s standing and experience who can mix a hard-headed understanding of party politics, diplomacy and military experience. Indeed, he recently wrote a sort of textbook on how the international community could and should deal with failed states and post-conflict situations, Swords and Ploughshares, which I have reviewed for the next edition of the magazine ‘Liberator’.
Unfortunately, British military experts believe that it will take as long to sort out Afghanistan as it did Nortern Ireland, in other words, 38 years. One can well see why someone hoping to spend more time with his family might baulk at that prospect. Nonetheless, if I were a betting man — which, as a good Quaker, I am not — I would wager that Paddy would have more chance of doing something significant in Afghanistan than Tony Blair has of pulling a rabbit out of the hat in the Middle East.
