America is bankrolling Afghanistan.
It is responsible for more than half of all aid to the country (aid
that accounts for about a third of GDP), and it plans to provide
$10.6bn in the next two years.
But as in Iraq, a vast proportion of aid is wasted.
Political pressure in donor countries for rapid results has led to
projects that are unsuitable and unsustainable.
Most aid money goes to programmes in the opium-intensive, insecure
provinces in the south.
To neglect secure provinces is to invite the insurgency to spread.
Close to half of US development assistance goes to the five biggest US
contractors in the country.
Too much money is lost to high salaries and living costs, non-Afghan
resources and corporate profits.
The overall cost of one expatriate consultant is about half a million
dollars a year.
International contractors are indispensable, but there needs to be
rigorous scrutiny, with targets for increased use of Afghan resources.
An aid ombudsman could monitor complaints and make recommendations.
There is rising anger about civilian casualties, particularly at the
hands of US units outside Nato command - a recent assault in western
Afghanistan left 50 civilians dead, and in the past six weeks
coalition forces have killed up to 100 civilians, compared with about
230 for the whole of 2006.
If international forces lose the support of the people, militants and
insecurity will spread.
A third of Afghans think democracy is incompatible with Islamic
values, and many resent the massive foreign presence.
If rapid steps are not taken to improve the delivery of aid and to
control the excessive use of force, there could be devastating
consequences.
At the same time, action is required at regional level to crack down
on insurgents, control narcotics, manage refugees and promote trade
and investment.
Achieving peace in Afghanistan is not an impossible task.
But the mistakes of Iraq are being repeated;
without a change of course the consequences are too awful to imagine.
From The Guardian, 5/26/07:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2088604,00.html
When Afghan children are forced to eat mud, it is clear we have
squandered billions of dollars of aid
Matt Waldman
Saturday May 26, 2007
The Guardian
The international community is in danger of repeating in Afghanistan
the mistakes made in Iraq.
Millions of Afghans have seen little material improvement in their
lives since 2001, and most still live in desperate poverty.
From the start, the damage inflicted by a quarter-century of war was
underestimated; this is not about repairing the state but building it
from scratch.
Rural communities have seen some improvements, but essential services
are scarce or inadequate.
In provinces where Oxfam works such as Daikundi, there is no mains
water or electricity, and virtually no paved roads.
Average life expectancy in Daikundi is 42 and one in five children
dies before the age of five.
Afghan children chew on mud they scratch from the walls of their homes
to stave off hunger.
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Another mission accomplished, eh?
Harry
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