An Afghan courtroom in Khost Province / DoD photo
Earlier today we posted on the U.S.-led efforts to give Afghan women more clout in their society. In another sign that the U.S. has gone well beyond war there, today we learned of something called the Rule of Law Field Force-Afghanistan. Its goal: justice in that war-torn country.
Army Brig. Gen. Mark Martins said the Afghan government must fairly enforce the law throughout the country, even as many there despise the corrupt central government in Kabul. The Rule of Law Field Force is helping it do that with training, security and logistics.
He cited the Chel Zeena Criminal Investigative Center in Kandahar as evidence that justice is on the march. “The immediate goal of Chel Zeena is to conduct professional, evidence-based investigations,” Martins said, “and independent, law-governed prosecutions of the individuals detained in the newly refurbished…pretrial detention facility adjacent to it.”
Efforts like these make clear that nation building, at least on this scale, is a massive undertaking. It’s also part of the reason why the U.S. effort in Afghanistan — costing $3.5 billion a month in June 2009 — ballooned to $5.7 billion monthly in June 2010, $10 million more per day than Iraq.