SIUC prof plans recovery mission to Afghanistan
written by Rod Sievers
 CARBONDALE,
Ill. — "Afghanistan is an 18th-century country that has found
a way to operate in the 21st century," says Theodore Buila, an
associate professor in Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s
workforce education and development department.
Just how the Afghan people go about making it work is something
Buila knows first hand. He spent four months there in the 1970s
helping to establish rural development training centers, and with
any luck, he’ll be back in the war-torn nation in late spring or
early summer.
Buila and colleagues from Johns Hopkins University and the
University of California Davis are putting together a proposal to
help the country begin to recover from years of repressive Taliban
rule and the U.S.-led war on terrorism.
If everything goes according to plan, SIUC and its collegiate
partners will be among the first American universities to undertake
a recovery mission inside Afghanistan since the war of terrorism
began.
"The situation there is close to what it must have been in
Europe and Japan towards the end of the Second World War," said
Buila. "But so far, there has been very little talk of any
coordinated recovery mission."
Plans include providing training assistance for members of the
Afghan government, assisting with the nation’s rural development
needs and setting up basic services in areas ranging from health
care to transportation.
"For recovery to begin, Afghanistan needs to be in a
position to receive help," said Buila. "The word ‘bureaucracy’
tends to have a negative connotation in the United States, but
bureaucracies are an essential part of any organization. In
Afghanistan, they are almost non-existent. If a recovery mission is
to succeed, some sort of capacity building is essential.
"The relationship between the Afghan government and
potential donors from around world is one example. One tenet of our
plan is to train government officials to work with donors on
preparing projects, implementing those projects and managing
resources efficiently," Buila said.
In order to get the project off the ground, Buila and his
partners must obtain necessary funding. "The World Bank and the
U.S. Agency for International Development are currently formulating
requests for proposals," Buila said. "We’re trying to
shape those requests in order to have the best possible chance for
success."
If he receives funds, Buila expects to lead a fact-finding
mission to Afghanistan this spring. "If that works out, we
could have a full staff arriving in Kabul and other locations in the
country by June."
Buila, who joined SIUC’s faculty in 1968, holds a doctorate in
rural education from Cornell University, a master’s degree in
agricultural education from the University of California, Davis and
a bachelor’s degree from California State University.
Now 67 years old, Buila has no reservations about the prospect of
returning to Afghanistan. However, he does expect to find a very
different environment. "I was 35 when I was there the first
time; just a kid," recalls Buila. "I never felt I was in
danger during that time, but I’m sure I’ll be confronted with
some new challenges this time around, assuming we get to put our
plans into action.
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