An effective financial system is essential to economic development. US Army doctrine acknowledges that military forces play an important role in supporting economic stabilization and infrastructure development. A specific task is to support the financial system. However, stability operations have not always been successful. First, Western stability operations have constrained economic development because the cultural paradigms of the Western actors and the local population have not fit. Second, segments of the Muslim community perceive Islamic banks as more reliable than other banks. Both reasons endanger the trust of Muslims in the financial system, which limits bank penetration and therefore hampers economic development. This monograph argues that the application of Shari'a Compliant Finance (SCF) increases bank penetration and thereby improves economic development during stability operations in Afghanistan. Research found that Western organizations mainly used Western financial principles to develop the financial system in Afghanistan, while neglecting positive effects of SCF. The best way to apply SCF in order to improve the development of a financial system during stability operations is by facilitating local efforts that make use of religious reasoning and the social environment in order to gain and maintain subjective confidence. In order to mitigate the risk for sustainability of SCF on the longer term, international organizations like the World Bank and the IMF should maintain their focus on how to evolve a SCF system into a system that is still Shari'a compliant but also fulfills internationally recognized financial standards. To support the development of a financial system successfully, commanders need to understand the implications of SCF. By appreciating and applying SCF, commanders can increase the trust of the population in their financial system resulting in increased bank penetration and economic development. This leads to five lessons for military commanders. The first lesson is that SCF is an alternative or at least a valuable complement for the development of a financial system in Afghanistan. The second lesson is that commanders should question and challenge the Western paradigm by a Muslim paradigm in order to prevent that the military commander develops a deficient operational approach. The third lesson is that the military has to invest in basic knowledge of the Afghan society, Islam, and SCF. The fourth lesson is that the military should start building partnerships with other organizations to enable unified action. The final lesson is that the military commander should focus on facilitating local efforts instead of providing a solution for the development of the financial system in order to achieve the maximum development results.

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