DEMOCRATISATION AND THE INTELLIGENCE SERVICE: A COMPARATIVE REFLECTION ON AFGHANISTAN AND ROMANIA
DEMOCRATISATION AND THE INTELLIGENCE SERVICE: A COMPARATIVE REFLECTION ON AFGHANISTAN AND ROMANIA

Summary/Abstract: While Romania has been restructuring its intelligence service since the revolution in 1989, it has faced a number of obstacles and challenges to do with shaking-off former problems associated with the Securitate. Afghanistan has faced a similar challenge since the ISAF invasion of 2001 and has struggled with problems familiar to Romania, such as ethnic and sectarian factors; bureaucratic wrangles; and the continued influence of former communist actors and interests.In Afghanistan, different political and religious stakeholders have led the reform of the intelligence service in opposite directions. Unlike the situation in Romania, the new NDS (National Directorate of Security of Afghanistan) lacks substantive reform and processes of legal and political oversight. While Romania seems to be moving in the right direction towards democratization and accountability, the same cannot be said of the security sector in Afghanistan, where intelligence operates in a controversial environment. On the jihadist threat, Romania has made progress, while Afghan intelligence is largely unable to counter the Taliban insurgency due to neighbouring countries. It seems that the key to success in Romania has been a move towards substantial democratization and demilitarization of the secret intelligence sector, and there may be much that Afghanistan could learn from this experience of transformation.

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