Billions go to waste in Afghan rebuilding

[IndianaGreen]

Billions go to waste in Afghan rebuilding

Monday 30 November 2009
by Lizzie Cocker

A disproportionate amount of aid in Afghanistan is being used to fight resistance to the occupation rather than being channelled into reconstruction and acute humanitarian needs, economists have revealed.

Researchers at the London School of Economics found that more than half of the US aid budget to Afghanistan was focused on the four most insecure provinces in the south of the country and that a fifth of Britain's budget was allocated to projects in southern Helmand province where most British troops are based.

They said this "suggests that poverty reduction is not the primary criterion being used to target aid. As throughout Afghanistan's recent history, foreign aid has been used to leverage external security interests."

The report also found that most of the $15 billion (£9.1bn) US aid spent between 2002 and 2008 was "wasted" and "ineffective, not least because of the exorbitant fees charged by private contractors."

It added that "quick-impact projects" carried out by mixed civilian and military provincial reconstruction teams (PRTs) "are often ill-thought-through, unsustainable and of limited developmental value."

The researchers wrote: "NGO workers related instances where the military hastily constructed school buildings but without first ensuring new teachers had been recruited.

"The (underlying) thinking that development projects can buy the trust of local communities who in turn will provide valuable intelligence is seriously misguided."

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/83912