Pressure grows on US to aid 'weak' states to curb terrorism

The Bush administration has acknowledged the link between development and terrorism since 9/11. It said eradicating the seedbeds of terrorism was one of the aims of its "millennium accounts," an approach to foreign aid that rewards developing countries for good government. The terrorist threat is also behind the administration's Greater Middle East Initiative endorsed by the G-8 group of developed countries at their summit in Georgia last week.

But aid experts note that the millennium accounts largely focus on successful states, while the Middle East initiative fails to encompass most of the "weak" states prone to becoming terrorist havens. Those states, the commission notes, are focused in Africa and Central Asia.

Aware that talk of any kind of intervention in problem states could find quick rejection among Americans weary of Iraq, Mr. Eizenstat says the idea is to solve problems earlier so the American habit of "rushing in and then abandoning a place to future troubles" can be broken.

The commission, sponsored by the Center for Global Development in Washington, centered its work on the indicators of weak and failed states rather than on particular examples. Among the indictors: failures to control borders, meet the basic needs of citizens, and establish the legitimacy that comes from effective government.

But the commission notes that several countries in recent years have failed on all accounts, including Somalia, Afghanistan, and Haiti - all three of which have prompted US military intervention. Other poor performers - including Pakistan, Chad, Sudan, and Somalia - have either experienced internal conflicts that have led to outside intervention, or have failed to control their borders, leading to concerns about terrorist infiltration.

To address such threats, the commission lays out a set of recommendations, including creation of a directorate within the UN National Security Council to focus on weak states.

In addition, it calls for measures to deliver faster preventive action: creation of a rapid-response corps of technocrats to work with failing states, greater US support for regional peacekeeping capacities, and a $1 billion contingency fund at the president's disposal to respond to signs of weakening states.

Some of the ideas are already advancing. Last week the G-8 committed to training 75,000 peacekeepers to deal with crises primarily in Africa.

GlobalSecurity's Mr. Pike goes further, saying the international community ultimately needs a way to "declare countries as failed and bankrupt, just as you would a corporation," and to put them under international trusteeship.

Already the idea of a cabinet-level superagency focused on development - mirroring a recent reorganization of Britain's development structure - would be controversial enough. "Frankly I see this [proposal] as ... difficult to get implemented," says Porter. "But it's a way of saying to Congress and the American people, 'That's how important this issue is.' "

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