US Peacebuilding Efforts

Paul Diehl, Henning Larsen Professor of Political Science at the University of Illinois and director of the Correlates of War project, argued that claims of "mission accomplished" and "progress" require asking "success for whom?" and over what time horizon, then proposed three shared peacebuilding benchmarks (local security, rule of law, and local governance) with concrete indicators for each. He weighed government statements, news media, and NGO reports as sources, finding each limited. Spring 2011 series "Americans at War." A long audience Q&A covered Afghan public opinion, detention practices, Karzai's leadership, conscription versus volunteer forces, and whether the preconditions for democratization exist.