Rebuilding Syria

Launching the American Security Project’s new white paper Syrian stabilization and Reconstruction, ASP hosted a panel to discuss the prospects for rebuilding Syria after the end of its tragic civil war. Mathew Wallin, Fellow for Public Diplomacy at the American Security Project, presented a summary of the white paper, highlighting the need to go into Syria with defined goals and a clear understanding of how to achieve them. In order to learn from our mistakes in Iraq and Afghanistan, Wallin emphasized an approach to reconstruction that focuses on the local level to establish security and create a new unified vision for Syria’s future.

Hani Masri, a member of the ASP Board of Directors and Founder of Tomorrow’s Youth Foundation, stressed the role that women and children play in post-war reconstruction. Masri noted that if we do not invest in Syria’s youth today, in twenty or thirty years the new generation of Syrians will not be ready to take on the challenges of governance in the new Middle East. Betty Bernstein-Zabza, Senior Advisor and Director of Operations for Global Women’s Issues in the Office of the Secretary of State, then addressed the reconstruction efforts undertaken in Iraq. Tragically, many women have become heads of households in Iraq and Syria, and because of that, any effort to provide security and economic prosperity in liberated areas must take women and children into account.

Kaufman Fellow and Director of Project Fikra at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy David Pollock proposed a bold plan for future engagement in Syria. He argued that given that Assad and his partners—Iran and Russia—are not seeking a political solution any time soon, the international community must start rebuilding Syria today. He claimed that reconstruction could commence in Opposition-controlled areas in Idlib, Deraa, and al-Hasakah, and stressed how the immediate needs of places such as Kobane and Manbij underline the urgency of acting now. An audience member questioned this proposal on grounds that Idlib, in particular, is under constant aerial bombardment. Any infrastructure rebuilt would be instantly destroyed. Among his other proposals,

Pollack responded emphasizing the need for a no-fly zone. He added that while this and other proposed measures will not solve the whole of the Syrian crisis, we have to start somewhere. The United States and international community have an opportunity to do the right thing, backed by moral and strategic reasoning.

Wallin commented that in the policy community many people advocate that we need to “do something” without sufficient thought to what comes after. We can provide humanitarian aid now, but that policy has no foreseeable end. A no-fly zone in Syria might have to be maintained for twenty years.

Wallin’s strategic concerns noted, it’s hard to argue against doing something to help the 6.6 million internally displaced Syrians that have fled their homes and the remaining millions that are living in constant peril.