The Effects of Emerging Technologies in Post-war Afghanistan and Iraq

I am interested in exploring how the societies in Afghanistan and Iraq have changes or are changing with the new freedoms that technological advancement allows. I know that as the cities become rebuilt in these nations after their respective wars, they are being rebuilt with the technological needs of the citizens in mind. The cities are being wired for WiFi, for example. Through my research, I would like to answer the following questions: What major changes or additions to technology have occurred in both these regions? What do these advancements mean in terms of promoting democracy among the people? And what problems go along with the rapid technological advancement of these societies, i.e., religious, legal, societal implications? My target audience for this research will be the readers of a national newspaper or magazine. I believe they would be interested to learn exactly what services the United States and its allies are providing to these countries, how they differ based on their differences between these two countries, and what the citizens of Afghanistan and Iraq think about these changes.

Key Words:
Iraq
Afghanistan
Technology
Internet
Blogs
Citizen Reporting
Government Regulation
Infrastructure
Rebuilding

Initial Research:
Web address: http://www.usaid.gov/locations/asia_near_east/
afghanistan/infrastructure.html
Brief description: This website is the Afghanistan homepage for the USAID site. Along with providing up-to-date information on the rebuilding efforts of individual cities, this website also links to several US government sites that have information on rebuilding Afghanistan (i.e. State Department, Congressional Budget). The site also has some first-person account stories from people on the ground and involved in rebuilding.

Web address:
http://www.academicinfo.net/afghanmeta.html
Brief description: This website is an excellent resource for finding a multitude of information on the rebuilding of Afghanistan. There are links to rebuilding plans by the US State Department and the Islamic Transitional State of Afghanistan, as well as the Center on International Cooperation which has a great deal of articles about these topics. There are also links to various press agencies and news articles focusing on the topic of rebuilding.

Web address:
http://www.bechtel.com/iraq.htm
Brief description: This website is actually maintained the Bechtel Corporation, which has many rebuilding contracts in Iraq. The site provides a list of projects and status reports from the field. Bechtel has rebuilding contracts in the areas of airports, bridges, facilities, ports, power, telecommunications, rail, and water. There are also several links to articles outlining various projects, most interestingly the telecommunications projects. Although this site is managed by a corporation, I still find it very useful in detailing specific rebuilding projects in Iraq.

Web address:
http://www.rebuilding-iraq.net
Brief description: This website is for The Iraq Project and Contracting Office. From the site: “The Iraq Project and Contracting Office (PCO) manages the $18.4 billion appropriated by the U.S. Congress to support the reconstruction of Iraqi infrastructure. This office is responsible for all activities associated with program, project, asset, construction and financial management of that portion of the reconstruction effort undertaken by the U.S.” The site has a press center with articles detailing the effort, as well as a projects solicitation site where new projects are outlined.

Web address:
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn1817
Brief description: This website is an article reproduction from the print edition of New Scientist entitled “Afghanistan to be rebuilt from bottom up.” This article discusses the technological advances in the region in regards to the small villages where 85 percent of the population lives, rather than the cities which get more attention. The article relays plans to build solar powered electric grids for the villages, where, until now, electricity was scarce and the source of it was often gas powered generators.