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Afghanistan
Afghanistan asks West for $15bn more
2003-05-25
Afghanistan's interim President, Hamid Karzai, will issue an extraordinary call this week for an extra $15 billion cash from the West for the reconstruction of his war-shattered country. Karzai will warn that the $5bn so far committed is hopelessly inadequate to meet the pledges given by Tony Blair and George Bush to rebuild Afghanistan after the 2001 invasion.
I dunno. $5 billion here in Illinois would do a lot of stuff.
His wake-up call comes as his government plunges into financial crisis, with the capital Kabul facing its first popular street demonstrations since the fall of the Taliban 18 months ago. The rising discontent follows the failure of central government to pay police and civil servant salaries. Last week Karzai threatened to resign unless regional warlords paid more revenue into central government coffers.
Maybe if they coughed up their share Karzai wouldn't have his hand out.
In a Channel 4 documentary on postwar Afghanistan next weekend Karzai acknowledges his gratitude for Western aid but declares that 'we need more than has been promised.' He says that the country needs '$15-20bn to reach the stage we were in 1979'.
Yas, the glory years of 1979!
He goes on to accuse international donors of undermining his authority by handing the cash to outside agencies rather than central government. This policy, says Karzai, 'weakens the presence of the central government in the provinces of Afghanistan.'
"Really, you have no idea how hard it is to expropriate appropriate these funds when they're not under my control!"
In a further indication of the gravity of the country's plight, Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations Special Representative to Afghanistan, charged Western nations with sabotaging Karzai's attempts to bring security. He disclosed that he had made repeated attempts to widen the international security force in Afghanistan beyond Kabul but that the attempts had been rebuffed. He said that he asked 'repeatedly' for the security force to be extended into Afghanistan's lawless country areas, but that the 'international community tells us that they can't afford to respond to our request for the moment'. He added: 'If we had this kind of support the Afghans would have been able to look after themselves after one years or two years.'
Here's where our friends the Euros can step up.
Brahimi spoke out as the country was plunged into its worst security crisis since the end of the war. Aid organisations have pulled out of large parts of southern Afghanistan after a series of attacks by Pashtun nutcases and Taliban wannabees on international and Afghan humanitarian workers. A recent study by the Aid agency Care illustrates the scale of the West's neglect. It showed that in Kosovo, Bosnia and Croatia, the international community provided one peacekeeper for approximately 60 people. In Afghanistan the ratio is one to every 5,380 people. Figures for sums donated, when considered on a per head basis, tell an equally eloquent story. Bosnians received $326 per head during the aftermath of war. The comparable figure in Afghanistan over the next few years is $42 per head.
It isn't about equalizing the spending. It's making sure the money goes where it needs to go, and does what it's supposed to do.
If we had occupied Afghanistan, instead of helpting them toward "self-determination," they'd be in better shape now. The country's split into fiefdoms, the Pashtuns are loyal to Pashtunistan and not to an Afghan identity, and the country's still crawling with mullahs. We were honest and above-board, and we deferred to our Noble Allies, and they screwed it up. I could tell that was going to happen as soon as they started letting mullahs go.
Posted by:Steve White

#2  
I would bet more money flows to radical mosques, clerics, and organizations than to rebuild the infrastructure of Kabaul.

That IS how the Muslims demonstrate their committment to fellow Muslims. The more money for infidel killing, the better Muslims they become. Who needs drinking water, food, or education? Allah will take care of that... by using sentimental, sucker, infidel, Westerners like us.
Posted by: Celissa   2003-05-28 10:27:23  

#1  This is where the Moslem community can demonstrate their commitment to their fellow Moslems. I would bet more money flows to radical mosques, clerics, and organizations than to rebuild the infrastructure of Kabaul. It will be instructive to see what the Europeans do.
Posted by: TJ Jackson   2003-05-25 18:27:01  

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