The Foreign Service Journal, December 2014

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | DECEMBER 2014 33 Afghanistan’s emergence as a modern nation will involve negotiating a cultural transition that integrates enduring traditions with viable change. BY SCOTT SM I TH Scott Smith is the director of Afghanistan and Central Asia programs at the U.S. Institute of Peace. Prior to joining USIP in April 2012, Smith spent 13 years at the United Nations, focusing primarily on Afghanistan and democ- ratization issues. An adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public A airs, he is the author of Afghanistan’s Troubled Transition: Politics, Peacekeeping and the 2004 Presiden- tial Election (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2010), as well as a number of articles and book chapters. T hree themes have endured through- out Afghanistan’s long history. Its central government has always been weak; it has always had a strong and independent society; and its people have always been somewhat mis- trustful of outsiders. Notwithstanding those traits, over the past 13 years U.S. policy in Afghanistan has aimed to build a strong state and change and modernize society through outside assistance and expertise. WHAT U.S. POLICYMAKERS SHOULD KNOW ABOUT AFGHANISTAN TODAY Primary school is in session in the Mohmand Dara district of Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan. Casey Garret Johnson FOCUS ON AFGHANISTAN