WASHINGTON, Jan 12: The world must reject “Great Game” political intrigue and the “arrogance” of nation-building if it is to succeed in building a post-war Afghanistan, a top US aid official warned on Friday.

Andrew Natsios, top administrator of the US Agency for International Development was speaking before embarking on a trip to an Afghan reconstruction conference in Tokyo and on a visit to Pakistan and Afghanistan itself.

He said the focus of the international aid drive to rebuild Afghanistan, designed to deprive terror groups of a future haven, must involve Afghans at every level and not be a solution imposed by foreigners.

International policymakers must “try to avoid the Great Game politics of the region”, Natsios said at an Asia Society meeting here.

“We all know that countries in the region ... have not played a particularly constructive role in what has been going on in Afghanistan.”

The “Great Game” is a term applied to the struggle between imperial Britain and Russia for control of Central Asia in the 19th century, but is often applied to the continuing geopolitical fight for primacy in the region.

Natsios also cautioned that the role of the United States and other nations in the international reconstruction effort following the ouster of the Taliban and the US operation in Afghanistan, should not be construed as “nation building”.

“It is an Afghan effort to reconstruct Afghanistan,” Natsios said.

“The notion of nation-building is an arrogant and dangerous proposition. We help other countries build their nation.

“If the programme is going to be successful, the Afghan people and the Afghan elites have to accept it.”

Natsios, who will join a US team headed by Secretary of State Colin Powell and Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill at the Tokyo conference on Jan 21-22, advocated a strategy which would maximize Afghan involvement.

He argued that women should be restored to a vital and stabilizing role in society and educational policy in the country.—AFP