Funds to secure Afghanistan
Ambassador Said T. Jawad
The Washington Times
03/30/2004
At the donors' conference tomorrow in Berlin,
we will present a detailed report on how to secure Afghanistan's
future -- and the security internal stability brings to the
world.
Two years ago, along a dusty road in Kunduz, in
north Afghanistan, a young man caught the attention of President
Hamid Karzai: He tossed a bouquet of flowers at his car. When
the president glanced his way, the young man pointed to the
pitted road at his feet. "Fix the road," he cried.
That plea symbolized then as now the chief desire
of our nation as it picks itself up after 25 years of war and
destruction. Afghans measure success in nation-building and
the progress against terrorism by improvements in their everyday
life.
Historically, Afghanistan has been at the crossroads of Asia
and served as a land bridge between the Indian Subcontinent,
the Middle East, China and Europe. And today, once again, my
country is at the crossroads of history. One path rises to prosperity
and democracy, bridging civilizations. Another path descends
into human rights violations, extremism, corruption, illegal
drug trades and ultimately the breeding of terrorists.
We have with certainty chosen the path of prosperity
and democracy and done so with a renewed spirit of national
pride as shown in the recent adoption of our new constitution
that is the most progressive charter in the region.
The fight against terrorism is not just military, it is economic.
Investing in Afghanistan's future is good economics. In partnership
with the United States, and led by Mr. Karzai's vision, our
people have proudly turned swords into plowshares.
The Afghan people are experiencing new freedoms,
and families are being reunited as refugees return.
The new constitution approved Jan. 4 by the constitutional
Loya Jirga provides all citizens of Afghanistan -- men and women
-- equal rights under the law. Afghan women are returning to
school and to the workplace. They are participating in the political
process. Afghanistan is experiencing important successes in
education, health care and development of a market economy.
Major cities flourish with business and reconstruction. New
businesses are being established with grants and loans from
the United States and the international community. Completion
of initial stages of the Kabul-Kandahar Road is another sign
of progress.
This process can be further accelerated with new
pledges from the international community and donor nations.
This will require $4.5 billion yearly as part of a seven-year
plan, with one-fifth of that needed for direct support to our
budget and the remaining for project financing. We need a moderate
investment commitment of $1 billion per year to ensure proper
development of human capital to create a literate nation and
provide social protection with a minimum of social and personal
security.
On March 21, the first day of spring and the new
school year, 5.3 million children returned to school. We need
to build thousands of schools. Only 29 percent of classrooms
in Afghanistan have roofs. Investments of $2.1 billion per year
will provide us the basic infrastructure for transportation,
communications, mining, power, irrigation, housing and urban
development. A number of water dams and power plants need funding.
An annual investment of $750 million in security, rule of law,
judicial and administrative reform and private-sector development
will guarantee an environment conducive to sustainable growth.
Our judges now are paid less than $40 a month.
Our goals are very modest and realistic. We plan
to double our gross domestic product (GDP) per capita to just
$500 in next seven years. This is an investment the international
community can afford to make and cannot afford to bypass. These
investments will not only further stabilized Afghanistan and
the region, but also over the long haul will lessen the defense
and security expenditures of our global partners. It now costs
more than $13 billion yearly to maintain the anti-terror Coalition
and International Security Assistance Forces in my country.
With a portion of this sum invested in rebuilding
Afghanistan's national institutions, we will be able to take
full responsibility for many services now provided by our international
partners. Across-the-board investing now in Afghanistan -- coupled
with transparent plans by my government on how to spend such
funds -- will reduce the long-term costs for international donors.
For example, more than $2 billion has been spent in the last
24 months to avoid humanitarian catastrophe. This expenditure
was badly needed because our national institutions were not
-- and still are not -- equipped to deal with such emergencies.
Slow action could be more costly. Consider our
common fight against illegal narcotics. The cost of fighting
this deadly trade that destroys lives all over the globe and
feeds terrorism and warlordism in Afghanistan has increased
significantly.
Return on international investment in Afghanistan
has been tremendous, as evident by an economic growth of nearly
30 percent, according to the World Bank. To continue this progress
and ensure a sustainable economic recovery, we need an average
growth of real and legal (nondrug) GDP of 9 percent annually
over the next seven years. This can not be sustained, however,
without sizeable investments by the international community
that must accelerate its partnerships lest our achievements
begin eroding.
While there has been significant progress rebuilding
state institutions and stimulating economic growth in Kabul
and other major cities, adverse geography and security conditions
continue undermining economic progress and my government's ability
to deliver services into remote areas. This has deprived some
segment of our people from the peace dividends.
Parts of Southern and Eastern Afghanistan are dangerous. The
terrorists have been active on the Pakistan-Afghan border and
their hit-and-run attacks on soft targets generate fear.
We are very grateful for the support provided
us by the U.S. government and Congress. Now is the time to accelerate
our collective resolve to further secure Afghanistan. Now is
the time to front-load investments in building national institutions
needed to fulfill the promise of our upcoming first national,
democratic elections. Now is the time to answer the plea of
that young Afghan along the road for improvement in his life.
At this crossroads, we all have much to gain or lose. The Afghans
have unfalteringly made the right choice to go forward with
the promise of democracy and prosperity.
