There is a widely held assumption in military and foreign policy circles that development aid is an important "soft power" tool to promote stabilization and security objectives in fragile states. Counterinsurgency doctrine in particular emphasises the importance of reconstruction and development assistance in promoting stabilisation by "winning hearts and minds" of civilian populations. Given how widespread the assumption is, and given its major impact on aid and counterinsurgency policies, there is to date little empirical evidence that supports the assumption that development aid "wins hearts and minds" and contributes to improved stabilization and security. While considerable time, effort and resources have been devoted to assessing the effectiveness of aid in achieving humanitarian and development objectives, surprisingly few resources have been devoted to assessing the effectiveness of aid in achieving stabilisation and security objectives. The objective of this study is to help address this evidence gap.

Andrew Wilder was born in Pakistan and has spent more than 20 years working and researching in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He is a graduate of Georgetown University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He is currently a Research Director at the Feinstein International Center at Tufts University, and an Associate Fellow at the Carr Center at the Harvard Kennedy School. From January 2002 through April 2005, he established and served as the first Director of the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (www.areu.org.af). Between 1986 and 2001 he worked for several different international NGOs managing humanitarian and development programs in Pakistan and Afghanistan, including as the Pakistan/Afghanistan Director of Save the Children (US) from 1996 to 2001. He is the author of The Pakistani Voter (Oxford University Press, 1999), and the author of many book chapters, journal articles and briefing papers relating to development aid, governance and the security sectors in Pakistan and Afghanistan.