Published December 18, 2024 at 11:14 a.m.
You pay. Sweden spent at least 27 billion kronor on a combined military and aid effort in Afghanistan over a 20-year period. Despite this, the goals of the effort were not achieved, according to a newly released investigation.
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On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard (M) received the report from the parliamentary committee that reviewed the overall Swedish involvement in Afghanistan during the years 2001–2021.
The aim has been, among other things, to clarify what the Swedish war involvement – which had a strong feminist character – actually contributed to. Not much, it turns out.
According to the investigators, the failure was due to a lack of understanding of Afghanistan and a naive belief that change could be achieved quickly. Swedish politicians hoped that the period when Afghan women gained access to better education and healthcare would have positive effects in the long term, reports Sveriges Radio.
Despite the high-flying intentions, it has now become clear that Sweden's efforts did not lead to the desired social change – to say the least.
The 27 billion kronor Swedish intervention in Afghanistan can therefore be summed up as an expensive feminist fiasco. Despite this, Maria Malmer Stenergard highlights the effort.
– The evaluation clearly shows the extensive involvement Sweden has had in Afghanistan over two decades. Nowhere else in the world has such a significant and long-term Swedish effort been carried out by so many Swedish state actors. It is important that it has been evaluated and that we can learn lessons from the work, says Minister for Foreign Affairs Maria Malmer Stenergard in a press release.
The parliamentary committee has, among other things, mapped and evaluated the Swedish effort with a focus on aid, the military effort, foreign and security policy initiatives and other civilian efforts. The committee has also reviewed the evacuation that was carried out in connection with the Taliban's takeover of power in 2021. The evaluation has aimed to clarify what results the Swedish commitment has contributed to, and what lessons can be learned from the work.
– Even though the Swedish presence in the country has now ended, our commitment to the Afghan people continues, not least the women and girls who are being hit extremely hard by the Taliban's reign of terror, says Maria Malmer Stenergard.
The parliamentary committee is united behind the report, which has been submitted without reservations or special opinions.