World | Afghanistan
Afghanistan to seek $50b more aid from donors
Afghanistan will ask international donors next month for $50 billion (Dh184 billion) to fund a five-year development plan, a presidential aide said, despite growing criticism that aid money is being wasted.
- AP
- Published: 00:33 May 15, 2008
Kabul: Afghanistan will ask international donors next month for $50 billion (Dh184 billion) to fund a five-year development plan, a presidential aide said, despite growing criticism that aid money is being wasted.
About $14 billion is to go toward improving deteriorating security, but the key target is reviving the decrepit agricultural sector, Ishaq Nadiri, senior economic adviser to President Hamid Karzai, told reporters late on Tuesday.
The plan will be presented to international donors June 12 in Paris. "We expect a strong political commitment to Afghanistan," Nadiri said. Afghanistan is struggling to recover from a quarter century of war.
More than six years after the ouster of the hardline Taliban regime, the country is mired in poverty and insurgent attacks are increasing. It also produces about 93 per cent of the world's opium, the raw material of heroin.
Corruption
The slow pace of development is hobbling public support for Karzai's Western-backed government as Afghans grapple with food shortages and the sharply rising cost of living. Official corruption is endemic.
"We are building a state, and that is a costly exercise," Nadiri said. "The country had lost its human, physical and social capital ... the collapse of Afghanistan was total."
An estimated 34 per cent to 42 per cent of Afghans still live below the poverty line. Despite significant improvements in healthcare, Afghanistan has the world's second-highest maternal mortality rate. It is also highly dependent on aid. The United Nations, Nato and other international institutions are trying to better coordinate military and civilian reconstruction, widely regarded as fragmented and ineffectual.
There is growing concern over how the aid money is spent. Since 2001, the international community has pledged $25 billion in help but has delivered only $15 billion, according to a report by the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief, an alliance of 94 international aid agencies. Some 40 per cent of it - or $6 billion - goes back to donor countries in corporate profits.
Share this article
Afghanistan
Obama says will "finish the job" in Afghanistan
Rocket strike jolts Kabul hotel
Rocket hits outside Afghan luxury hotel
Suicide bomber kills 6 in Afghanistan
Karzai sworn in as Afghan president
Afghan official took bribe for China copper deal: US
Suicides in US Army to increase this year
New policy aimed at ending Afghan conflict, Obama says
More from World
News Editor's choice
-
Philippine massacre probe focuses on Arroyo ally
Arroyo vows justice for the victims and declares a national day of mourning
-
Italian PM gets 'Rockstar of the Year' title
Magazine hails Berlusconi's lifestyle
-
What drives Africa's new kind of refugees?
Warming-driven factors have led many in the continent to flee their homes
