Why young Afghans won't vote

I can’t blame my students for overestimating what American power can accomplish around the world. After all, Americans were confident just a few years ago that achieving our goals abroad relied only on our willingness to throw off self-doubt and the constraints of international law and opinion, to extend our power to its fullest using whatever means proved most expedient.

It took a humbling experience in Iraq, a helpless response to the Russian invasion of South Ossetia, and a financial catastrophe to build the emerging consensus that American power is fallible, and that achieving our foreign policy goals will almost always rely in part on factors outside our control.

When I see this mythologized vision of American power in class, I warn my students not to give us too much credit. We discuss recent instances of American frailty or miscalculation, in Afghanistan and elsewhere. We read about the difficulties of delivering aid in non-permissive environments, discuss the tough decision-making processes in the field that lead to civilian casualties, explore how strains in the transatlantic relationship hamper the NATO mission, and examine how the contentious addition of Iraq as a front on the war on terror stretched America’s military to the brink.

It is rewarding to watch new perceptions form as students retain their frustration but trade in conspiracy theories for new realizations: Sometimes the United States can’t fix every problem, and bad policies often belie good intentions.

Afghans believe that their futures depend principally on America’s willingness and ability to reconstruct their state. It is time to share with them the lesson we Americans learned in recent years about the limits of our power. Just as President Barack Obama made a point early on of admitting our mistakes and laying bare the extent of the challenges he confronts domestically, it should be the job of American public diplomacy to explain and even highlight our country’s weaknesses and limitations as well as its many strengths.

Only when Afghans understand the many complexities and constraints that prevent the quick emergence of a strong and secure state can we forge a productive partnership based on realism rather than misinformation and rumor. And only once they get past the misconception that Afghanistan’s fate hangs on the secretive whims of American policy will my students begin to form the young, engaged political class that might one day bring a new kind of governance to their struggling country. 

Oliver S. Mains is a senior lecturer in international relations at the American University of Afghanistan. 

More GlobalPost dispatches from Afghanistan:

Karzai's back ...

Many Afghanis find hope in Obama

Economic crunch to affect NATO in Afghanistan

Spurned by US, Karzai eyes Russia

Editor's note: This story was updated to clarify the photo caption.

More Dispatches:

• Latest