The international community defends the projects it has undertaken in the country but some Afghans feel there is little to show for the billions being spent.
Institute for War and Peace Reporting
December 30, 2004
By Abdul Baseer Saeed in KabulDespite the enormous amount of international aid being pumped into Afghanistan, some people in the country feel there are few visible signs of improvement. It is estimated that Afghanistan has received nearly 14 billion US dollars in the past three years. Yet roads and buildings are still in ruins; power supplies are irregular; medical facilities are poor; school construction is lagging; and there is not enough fresh drinking water.
After the fall of the Taleban regime in 2001, the international community came together in Bonn, Germany to discuss rebuilding the country. Each of the participants pledged to inject huge amounts of money, although specific figures were never mentioned. Meanwhile the number of the non-governmental organizations, NGOs, operating in the country, which had numbered in hundreds during the Taleban era, rose to thousands. International aid workers flooded into the country. With them came scores of specialists - civil engineers, telecommunications experts and utility workers.
Now, three years on, people are asking: What has been achieved and where is the money going? "The only improvement I have seen is the rebuilding of the Kabul-to-Kandahar highway," said Rahiim of Kabul, "and that was only carried out as a matter of expediency. "But there is no sign of work on the Kabul-Jalalabad highway, whereas this road is much shorter than the one to Kanadahar, and is one of the country's main arteries. "If all these dollars had been used to fill in the potholes in Kabul, it would have been put to better use."
Ramazan Bashar Dost, the former planning minister in the transitional government, and an outspoken critic of NGOs, agrees. "Quite simply, the government, the United Nations and the NGOs have not been spending this money in ways that will benefit the people," he said. "Around 67 million dollars was allocated to reduce unemployment, but the number of unemployed has risen. "The government must explain its policies on aid. Our engineers are paid 60 dollars a month but the government brings in people from abroad at vastly inflated salaries with no knowledge of the country to undertake projects that don't meet the needs of the people. "They simply take the money and run," he charged.
Members of the international community, however, defended their current aid programs and said their decisions were guided by the priorities established by the Afghan government.
John Myers, director general of the European Commission's humanitarian aid organization, ECHO, said, "We structure projects via the NGOs according to the policies of the government. "These projects can involve us working with the United Nations, international NGOs and the Red Cross. "Whether or not all of the schemes we have undertaken are successful or not I cannot say but we will carry on until the government is in a position to take over. "One of the major problems we have is that we cannot force NGOs into areas where there is no security." He said the European Commission had provided 102 million dollars in aid in 2002, 74 million dollars in 2003 and 49 million dollars in 2004. Myers said the Commission expected to provide 22 million dollars in aid in 2005. He said the overall amount of aid being provided was declining because additional assistance was coming from other donors.
Patrick Fine, mission director of US Agency for International Development in Afghanistan, said his agency spent 1.2 billion dollars on the country last year. "We work on projects in collaboration with the government," said Fine. "And by the same token we work in conjunction with around 800 NGOs. "In general terms, we are satisfied that they carry out their functions properly. We are constantly evaluating their work."
Japanhas contributed 900 million dollars for reconstruction, according to Norihiro Okuda, Japan's ambassador to Afghanistan. He said his country plans to provide an additional 128 million dollars in humanitarian aid. Okuda provided a breakdown of the assistance provided by his government. "Of our total contribution 8.2 million dollars were spent on the registration of the voters; 8.8 million dollars went to the government to run the parliamentary election; and 46 schools were built all over the country," he said. "We have worked widely in the security sector and working with the ministry of defence; 2,5000 [militia members] have gone through the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration, DDR, process." "We are very pleased with what has been achieved and at how our contributions are used," he said. "But there is still so much more to be done."
Mirco Kreibich, the first secretary for development, cooperation and humanitarian Aid at the German embassy, said his country had pledged 110 million dollars in assistance. Much of that money will go to train Afghan police officers and to improve security in the country. Other major projects being paid for by the German government include improvements to the power and water supplies. In addition, Kreibich said, his government is working to improve Afghanistan's schools. "We are keen for teachers to learn the skills of basic training techniques in order that more children have the chance of acquiring even an elementary education," he said.
And how successful are these projects?
"Twenty years of war has left Afghanistan with much to rebuild and I cannot say that everything we attempt will be guaranteed one hundred per cent success," he said. "But we have to keep on trying, don't we?"
Abdul Baseer Saeed is a staff writer for IWPR in Kabul.
© Institute for War & Peace Reporting