The Development of Afghanistan Is a Tremendous Opportunity for the World

The many projects already planned for modern transportation lines in and through Afghanistan need to be implemented immediately, Helga Zepp-LaRouche urges in her article, to integrate it into a development perspective. Of course they pose “considerable engineering challenges” given the rugged geography of the country, “but the shared vision of overcoming poverty and underdevelopment combined with the expertise and cooperation of the best engineers in China, Russia, the U.S.A., and Europe really can ‘move mountains’ in a figurative sense.

The combination of the World Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) New Development Bank, New Silk Road Fund, and national lenders could provide the necessary lines of credit.”

At the same time, the development of agriculture would provide “an alternative to the massive drug production plaguing this region. At this point, over 80% of global opium production comes from Afghanistan, and about 10% of the local population is currently addicted….The realization of an alternative to drug cultivation is in the fundamental interest of the entire world.”

Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown how urgent it is to build modern health systems in every single country on Earth in order to prevent new mutations and new pandemics. “The construction of modern hospitals, the training of doctors and nursing staff, and the necessary infrastructural prerequisites are therefore just as much in the interests of all political groups in Afghanistan and of all countries in the region, as of the so-called developed countries.

“For all these reasons, the future development of Afghanistan represents a fork in the road for all mankind. At the same time, it is a perfect demonstration of the opportunity that lies in the application of the Cusan principle of the Coincidentia Oppositorum, the coincidence of opposites. Remaining on the level of the contradictions in the supposed interests of all the nations concerned –India-Pakistan, China-U.S.A., Iran-Saudi Arabia, Turkey-Russia — there are no solutions.

“If, on the other hand, one considers the common interests of all –overcoming terrorism and the drug plague, lasting victory over the dangers of pandemics, ending the refugee crises –then the solution is obvious. The most important aspect, however, is the question of the path we as humanity choose –whether we want to plunge further into a dark age, and potentially even risk our existence as a species, or whether we want to shape a truly human century together. In Afghanistan, it holds true more than anywhere else in the world: The new name for peace is development!”