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Afghanistan: new support and old criticism
03/2006
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[ Afghanistan ]
New aid pledges, old criticism
The Afghan government wants to accomplish a number of ambitious development goals by the end of 2010. The international community is willing to support the efforts to the tune of $ 10 billion. That is the sum donor countries and multilateral organisations promised President Hamid Karsai’s government in the next years at the international conference on Afghanistan in London at the end of January. The figure includes pledges from earlier donor meetings. Criticism of the current practice of assistance was voiced prior to and during the London conference. Das Parlament, a German newspaper, for example, quoted Jawed Ludin, Chief of Staff to President Karsai, saying that the “golden period” after the first Afghanistan Conference in Bonn in 2001 had also been one “of tremendous waste.”
The London Conference called upon donors to channel more aid into the country through the national budget. According to Das Parlament, Finance Minister Amin Farhang complained that the government had only handled $ 1.6 billion of the total aid sum of $ 8.4 billion disbursed in recent years. The rest had been spent by non-governmental organisations and donor agencies. The World Bank criticised this practice in a report shortly before the London Conference (see D+C/E+Z 2/2006, p 51). “Aid comes into Afghanistan, but we have no overview of exactly how much, and where it is spent,” Farhang said. According to the new agreement, the government promises to come up with a detailed development strategy, which is to serve as the base for donor aid.
According to the Aghanistan Compact adopted in London, the country will, by the end of 2010, have an army of 70 000 ready for deployment and an active police force of 62 000. Until then, NATO-led military missions will be responsible for security. The government wants to disarm irregular militias by the end of 2007. Two years ago, however, that pledge had been made with the deadline of 2005 at the Berlin Afghanistan Conference. The London agreement also declares that the fight on drug cultivation will be stepped up considerably over the next few years.
Among the other targets is that all provinces in Afghanistan are to be connected by highways by the end of 2008. At the end of 2010, 65% of urban households and 25% of rural households are to be connected to the national power grid. Three quarters of the operating costs should then be covered by user charges. In the same year, 90% of all villages are to have access to safe drinking water and 50% are to be connected to the sewage disposal system. The agreement states that the proportion of people who live below the poverty line of one dollar a day shall be reduced by three percent annually until 2010. (ell)
On the internet:
http://www.ands.gov.af
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