Buila prepares for recovery mission to Afghanistan
"Afghanistan is an 18th-century country that has found a way to operate in the 21st century," says Theodore Buila, an associate professor in workforce education and development.
Buila and colleagues from Johns Hopkins University and the University of California-Davis are putting together a proposal to help the country begin to recover from years of repressive Taliban rule and the U.S.-led war on terrorism.
If everything goes according to plan, the University and its collegiate partners will be among the first American universities to undertake a recovery mission inside Afghanistan since the war on terrorism began.
"The situation there is close to what it must have been in Europe and Japan towards the end of the Second World War," said Buila. "But so far, there has been very little talk of any coordinated recovery mission."
Plans include providing training assistance for members of the Afghan government, assisting with the nation's rural development needs and setting up basic services in areas ranging from health care to transportation.
"For recovery to begin, Afghanistan needs to be in a position to receive help," said Buila,who joined the University in 1968. "The word 'bureaucracy' tends to have a negative connotation in the United States, but bureaucracies are an essential part of any organization. In Afghanistan, they are almost nonexistent. If a recovery mission is to succeed, some sort of capacity building is essential.
"The relationship between the Afghan government and potential donors from around the world is one example. One tenet of our plan is to train government officials to work with donors on preparing projects, implementing those projects and managing resources efficiently."
In order to get the project off the ground, Buila and his partners must obtain necessary funding. "The World Bank and the U.S. Agency for International Development are currently formulating requests for proposals," he said. "We're trying to shape those requests in order to have the best possible chance for success."
If he receives funds, Buila expects to lead a fact-finding mission to Afghanistan this spring. "If that works out, we could have a full staff arriving in Kabul and other locations in the country by June," he said.
Now 67 years old, Buila has no reservations about the prospect of returning to Afghanistan. However, he does expect to find a very different environment. "I was 35 when I was there the first time -- just a kid," recalls Buila. "I never felt I was in danger during that time, but I'm sure I'll be confronted with some new challenges this time around, assuming we get to put our plans into action."
- Rod Sievers
March 6, 2002
Just how the Afghan people go about making it work is something Buila knows first hand. He spent four months there in the 1970s helping to establish rural development training centers, and with any luck, he'll be back in the war-torn nation in late spring or early summer.
