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Contributions from
the Column
Facts and trends
Wealthy countries are not fulfilling duties
Clinton versus Bush
World Bank considers ban of company
The fight against poverty: NGOs lack priorities
Sudan: conflict escalates in Darfur
Afghanistan should be self-sufficient in ten years
“Disarmament must begin within the Afghan government”
5/2004
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[ Government conference in Berlin ]
Afghanistan should be self-sufficient in ten years
“How about asking what progress has been made in the past two years?” suggests a staff member of the EU mission in Afghanistan. He admits that the problems are enormous, but on the whole he considers the reporting on the country as far too negative. Although a lot had been achieved, he says, mostly all one read about were setbacks. Much of this was exaggerated. “According to the details I have, 16 people were killed in the conflicts in Herat surrounding the governor Ismail Khan in March, and not up to 100, as reported in the newspapers”, said the EU official on the sidelines of a meeting arranged of representatives of Afghanistan’s civil society in Berlin. The aim of the meeting arranged directly before the International Afghanistan Conference in late March was to discuss the role of civil society actors in stabilising the country. In the closing statement, the participants described the disarmament of the militias as the “key to the peace process”. Elections should only take place once at least 70 percent of the population had been registered to vote. Moreover, the lack of security, education and administrative structures was seen as putting the implementation of the constitution at risk. The document also includes an appeal to the international community for long-term participation in the reconstruction with respect for a “sensitive course of action” (see interview).
In the “Berlin Declaration” of the official government conference, the international community pledged 8.2 billion US dollars over the next three years for reconstruction in Afghanistan, 4.4 billion of which are to be paid in this year alone. According to the German daily Frankfurter Rundschau, however, some funds promised previously are included in this figure; in real terms, between four and five billion dollars were newly pledged at the conference. As it had done for the past three years, the German Federal Government promised to pay 80 million dollars annually until 2008. Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul and Ashraf Ghani, the Afghan Finance Minister, seemed satisfied with the result.
Before the conference, Ghani had estimated the financial requirements for the next seven years to still be 28 billion dollars, based on calculations by his government, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the United Nations. In addition, Ghani pointed out in Berlin that the international community spends 12 billion dollars annually for the military mission in Afghanistan alone. At the conference, NATO promised to establish five more so-called provincial reconstruction teams by summer, of which there are currently eleven, including one German team in Kundus. In addition, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and units of the anti-terror operation “Enduring Freedom” will provide security for the upcoming elections.
President Hamid Karzai had said before the conference that his country will need international aid for another ten years; after that, it should be able to stand on its own two feet. In its plan of action that is part of the “Berlin Declaration”, the government announced that it wants to completely disarm the militias in the provinces by summer 2005; a good half of the weapons should be collected up by the election date in autumn. As further priorities, the government programme named the preparation for the elections, the creation of administrative structures (note Hannelore Börgel’s article, p. 206), the increase of state revenue by effective taxation and the drawing up of strategy documents on the fight against poverty and against the cultivation of drugs. The government concluded an agreement on stemming the drug trade with neighbouring countries Pakistan, China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Iran.
In the meantime, the aid organisation medico international and the Bonn Centre for Development Research (ZEF) expressed their scepticism concerning both the present situation in Afghanistan and the role of the international community. medico criticised the war on terror for creating an “unhealthy alliance with the warlords”, whose power continued as before. The elections envisaged for September were said to be in danger of becoming a “fiasco for the democratic reconstruction efforts” because it was possible that they would legitimise the power of the warlords. The ZEF pointed out that at in late February only ten percent of eligible voters had been registered. The disarmament was also only making slow progress – not least due to technical errors: members of the militias sometimes received more money for the weapons they had given up than what they cost in the bazaar. The ZEF criticised the reconstruction process and the international support to date as being sluggish and uncoordinated. (ell)
Further details:
International Afghanistan Conference:
http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/www/en/index_html
Civil society meeting: http://www.swisspeace.org
Study on the reconstruction:
http://www.afghanistangov.org/recosting/
ZEF policy paper: http://www.zef.de
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