This past week a delegation from Afghanistan carried out a study tour in Indonesia. The delegation, which included high-level officials from the ministries of rural development and finance, visited the province of Aceh, which is located on the northwestern edge of the Indonesian archipelago. Aceh’s probably best known for having been at the epicenter of the massive December 26, 2004 earthquake and tsunami, which leveled coastal parts of Thailand, Sri Lanka, India and other countries situated around the Indian ocean. Aceh bore the brunt of the devastation, as the tsunami laid waste to large swaths of the province and claimed the lives of as many as 200,000 people – out of a total population of 4 million.
What’s often overlooked is that the separatist Free Aceh Movement had been waging a war with the central government for the past three decades prior to the tsunami. Aceh presented an opportunity for the Afghan delegation to explore the peace process, and the challenges of rebuilding and recovering in the wake of large-scale armed conflict. Having lived and worked in Afghanistan for more than three years and in Aceh for two years, I helped facilitate the Afghan team’s interactions with government counterparts in Aceh.
The delegation spent the first day in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, meeting with senior members of Aceh’s provincial government and civil society. To my delight, the Afghans and Acehnese seemed to make an instant and deep connection, despite being unable to communicate directly in English, Indonesian, Acehnese, Pashtu or Dari. The connection was rooted in their shared religion, Islam, and a shared set of experiences related to the physical and psychological effects of armed conflict. The provincial governor, as well as several senior officials of the government of Aceh’s tsunami reconstruction agency, had held various positions in the Free Aceh Movement. The Afghan deputy minister for rural development was born and raised in Kabul, and had lived through some of the region's worst episodes of violence, including the civil war that raged between mujahideen groups in the early 90s and leveled the city. The exchange between the provincial governor and the deputy minister was particularly lively, as they discussed topics ranging from counterinsurgency tactics to the personal risks that both face on a daily basis. The Taliban, in announcing its intentions for its latest “spring offensive,” identified Afghan government officials as primary targets for assassination. Interestingly, given that the he was hunted and imprisoned by the Indonesian government for years, the provincial governor concluded that the Afghan government must increase the size of its army and police dramatically in order to have any chance of defeating the Taliban and other insurgent groups militarily. [pictured: Deputy Minister, Wais Barmak, exchanging gifts with the Governor of Aceh, Irwandi Yusuf]
The next day we visited several communities in the neighboring district of Pidie to interact with local government officials, community members and a women’s NGO involved in development activities. These sorts of visits are governed by a tedious set of formalities, which often consists of rambling speeches by all levels of local government officialdom. The Afghans, accustomed to living in a context in which there are few, if any, outward signs of government presence, were struck by the array of district, sub-district and village officials that they met in Pidie. Only 13 years ago, Indonesia was ruled through Suharto’s New Order regime. The regime was highly proficient at extending government influence to the farthest reaches of the archipelago. Local government positions were often held by military or retired military personnel, and perhaps as a result, all government officials wore and continue to wear uniforms. As a sub-district governor (a position with relatively little authority, was delivering his speech), one of my Afghan colleagues, struck by the regalia of the sub-district governor’s uniform, asked if the speaker was a three-star general.
