An unfortunately titled op-ed in this morning’s New York Times — “Afghanistan’s Last Locavores” — turns out to be about US development policy in Afghanistan, but the points it makes apply far beyond Afghanistan’s borders:
“Sustainable development in Afghanistan has taken a back seat to ‘quick wins’ that can be reported to Congress as indicators of success: tractors that farmers can’t repair and that require diesel fuel they can’t afford; cheaply built schools; and smooth but wafer-thin asphalt, which will never stand up to Afghanistan’s punishing climate without costly annual maintenance.
If donor nations dismiss Afghans’ centuries of experience in sustainability and continue to support the exploitation of fossil fuels over renewable energy, future generations of rural Afghans will be forced to watch in frustrated silence as the construction of pipelines, oil rigs and enormous power grids further degrades their fragile and beautiful land while doing little to improve their lives.
And long after American forces have departed, it will be these rural farmers, not Afghanistan’s small urban population, who will decide whether to support or reject future insurgencies.”
The title of this post is a play on Hayek’s famous 1945 paper in the American Economic Review titled “The Use of Knowledge in Society.” Nobel laureate Vernon Smith once said that every time he reads that paper, he learns something new.
The (Mis)Use of Knowledge in Afghan Society
An unfortunately titled op-ed in this morning’s New York Times — “Afghanistan’s Last Locavores” — turns out to be about US development policy in Afghanistan, but the points it makes apply far beyond Afghanistan’s borders:
“Sustainable development in Afghanistan has taken a back seat to ‘quick wins’ that can be reported to Congress as indicators of success: tractors that farmers can’t repair and that require diesel fuel they can’t afford; cheaply built schools; and smooth but wafer-thin asphalt, which will never stand up to Afghanistan’s punishing climate without costly annual maintenance.
If donor nations dismiss Afghans’ centuries of experience in sustainability and continue to support the exploitation of fossil fuels over renewable energy, future generations of rural Afghans will be forced to watch in frustrated silence as the construction of pipelines, oil rigs and enormous power grids further degrades their fragile and beautiful land while doing little to improve their lives.
And long after American forces have departed, it will be these rural farmers, not Afghanistan’s small urban population, who will decide whether to support or reject future insurgencies.”
The title of this post is a play on Hayek’s famous 1945 paper in the American Economic Review titled “The Use of Knowledge in Society.” Nobel laureate Vernon Smith once said that every time he reads that paper, he learns something new.
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Published in Commentary, Development and Policy