The government will evaluate the efforts in Afghanistan

Thursday morning Defense Secretary Peter Hultqvist (S) will attend a meeting with the Defense Committee and tell DN that the government will appoint a state assessment of the military effort in Afghanistan under the Resolute Support mission that ran from 2015 to this year.

– I think it is clear that we must make an assessment. I see this as a normal post-effort procedure, says Hultqvist.

Details and time frame As for the assessment, the government will take a stand at a later stage, he said. However, this should be done in the “near future”. He stresses that it is important to assess the design and impact of the initiative and to identify lessons for the future. Hultqvist emphasizes that the main issue is the gap between assessment and reality.

The only thing to highlight is the danger of wishful thinking when describing situations and making assessments of what should happen. There is a clear risk in such contexts, which I think has characterized a lot of what has happened in the past year, that one makes very positive assessments when it comes to believing in potential outcomes.

He points to, among other things, questions about how realistic the prospects are for a US-Taliban labor agreement, as well as what preparations for phasing out and practical implementation looked like.

The question is particularly important when it comes to the final phase-out. Among other things, this led most of the coalition countries to face the common problem of a difficult situation and evacuation of local employees.

Minister of Defense means That assessment of the imbalance between assessment and reality is “extremely important for future efforts”.

– Of course, this will affect not only Sweden’s views, but also other countries’ views on international efforts and the terms of those efforts. It is a clear consequence of what has happened now.

He asserts that accuracy will increase in discussions and analyzes before efforts.

Above all, I think the strength of the long-term commitment will be an important issue in those contexts.

Already then The International Security Assistance Force operation ended in 2014, and one was appointed Government investigation On Sweden’s involvement in Afghanistan. In 2017, it was handed over to the government, and among other things, the summary states that “Afghan security forces show significant deficiencies in capabilities. Swedish military efforts have not succeeded in contributing to sustainable security. However, the efforts have had a positive impact on the development of the forces armed”.

Already in 2015 we discussed a long list of issues that indicated difficulties in development. I wasn’t particularly surprised that the detective framed herself as she did. However, it is different from saying that everything was wrong, says Peter Hultqvist.

confirms it Meanwhile, employees from Sweden and other countries contributed to a security situation that “was better than the alternative” and that it is difficult to predict various events. At the same time, he says he is open to discussing whether Sweden and others should be more willing to evolve after the withdrawal.

– I think it is very reasonable to discuss why development assessments are so weak to the end in terms of development on the ground.

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