Investing in Afghanistan falls short: Afghan ambassador talks
of the need for more money
Ed Koch
Las Vegas Sun
06/27/2006
Wall Street plans to invest $20 billion in developments
on the Las Vegas Strip over the next five years. For roughly
that sum, war-torn Afghanistan could build an economy and stabilize
a country where rising violence threatens U.S. interests, a
senior Afghan official said Monday.
Afghanistan's ambassador to the United States,
Said T. Jawad, said in an interview with the Sun editorial board
that $27 billion in foreign aid over five years would be enough
to build roads and power plants and other systems. But Afghanistan
currently gets just $2.4 billion a year in international assistance,
including just $1 billion from the United States.
The aid is vital if Afghanistan is to build an
infrastructure to attract a high level of foreign investment,
Jawad said. Without it, the economy will continue to suffer
and the nation will risk continued instability.
Compared to amount of money flowing to Iraq, $27
billion doesn't seem remarkable. The United States is spending
hundreds of billions of dollars for military operations and
reconstruction in Iraq. President Bush has approved $19.8 billion
in emergency aid to rebuild levees and provide housing to Hurricane
Katrina-ravaged New Orleans.
Jawad was in Las Vegas to speak to the Las Vegas
World Affairs Council, which hosted his visit. He came to the
Sun before delivering his speech.
In the interview, he was careful not to complain
about the level of foreign assistance. His main theme was one
of hope and progress. He lauded the U.S. efforts in his country
and said American troops enjoyed broad support, despite U.S.
attacks on terrorist hideouts that have claimed scores of civilian
lives.
"Afghanistan values its partnership with
the U.S.," he said. "We are trying to build bridges
with the international community and increase global security."
But when pressed about the level of aid, he paused
and chose his words carefully: "If we get the money to
rebuild in a fast way, we can do it sooner, but if we get it
in smaller portions the (United States) commitment will take
longer."
Jawad said that while sentimental support for
Afghanistan is strong on Capitol Hill, the aid is "not
always enough."
"We have a lot of challenges, yet we have
a lack of capital and a lack of resources," Jawad said.
Afghanistan still lacks infrastructure, including
roads and power. Just 6 percent of the country's 25 million
people have access to electricity.
But there has been progress, Jawad said. Private-sector
money from 3,000 investment projects has built two five-star
hotels in Kabul and provided more than a million people with
cell phones, he said.
Still, Afghanistan remains the world's sixth poorest
country.
In addition to the slow flow of reconstruction
money, terrorists are bombing and burning mosques, clinics and
schools in five provinces that border Pakistan, where the Taliban
has refuge.
"In the last two months there has been a
strong spike in terrorist actions," Jawad said.
During his speech at the Four Seasons, Jawad painted
a more disturbing picture:
"In Uruzgan ¦ a district that covers
hundreds of square miles, we have 10 to 15 police officers,
all poorly trained, ill-equipped, unpaid for months, with old
and outdated light weapons and two clips of ammunition. They
are very vulnerable."
Jawad said President Hamid Karzai's "Clear,
Hold and Build Strategy" is being carried out to defeat
the Taliban and thwart the illicit narcotics trade that blossoms
from the poppies that are grown in Afghanistan's farming community.
The plan calls for clearing the country side of
terrorists with large scale attacks, holding the region with
local and international forces and building projects to give
the people hope their lives will improve.
The success of that program appears to hinge on
the planned increase of NATO troops from 9,000 to 21,000 by
November. To date, 36 countries have troops in Afghanistan and
41 countries are helping to train and equip its national army.
More than 60 countries are helping to rebuild
Afghanistan, which was devastated by its war with the Soviet
Union in the early 1980s and by the U.S.-led forces hunting
down the Taliban following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Jawad called stemming the drug trade "our
highest priority."
"There is no quick fix or silver bullet solution
for the international problem of narcotics in Afghanistan,"
Jawad said, noting that 143 metric tons of opium and 35.5 metric
tons of heroin were seized and destroyed by the government last
year.
Politically, the country continues to grow stronger,
Jawad said, noting that there was an 86 percent turnout for
the presidential election.
Afghanistan, he said, also has a democratic, liberal
constitution, a new parliament and women are becoming empowered.
Women make up about 27 percent of Afghanistan's Parliament.
Education is improving too, Jawad said, noting
in the Sun interview that 6 million children have returned to
school. But just 29 percent of those schools have roofs and
children have to share textbooks in classrooms with 50 or more
kids per teacher.
The lack of qualified people “ "human
capital," Jawad calls it - remains a major stumbling block
on the road to recovery. And there is a fear the United States
will leave before Afghanistan is ready to stand on its own.
That, Jawad said, would be a setback for all freedom-loving
people.
"If you fail to win the war in Afghanistan,"
Jawad said, "you will fail to win the war on terrorism."
