At Conference, Afghans Say They’ll Need Aid for Years

[alp227]

Source: NYT

As dozens of nations and organizations met here on Monday to plan a transition beyond the withdrawal of American and other international forces from Afghanistan in 2014, the Afghan government had a new deadline in mind: 2024.

President Hamid Karzai and other Afghan officials here called for political and military support for at least another decade — and financial assistance that would not end until 2030. That would be nearly three decades after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 that led to the international intervention in Afghanistan.

While Mr. Karzai and others celebrated the strides made in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban — 60 percent of Afghans now have cellphones, he said, compared to none in 2001 — the conference underscored the multiple challenges facing a government undermined by corruption and threatened by a tenacious insurgency.

“We will need your steadfast support for at least another decade,” Mr. Karzai said, addressing leaders here at a conference held on the 10th anniversary to the day of the one, also in Bonn, that established the political foundation for a new government in Afghanistan.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/06/world/asia/afghans-tell-conference-they-need-aid-for-at-least-another-decade.html

[Vincardog]

1. If we had provided them the support we promised them after they defeated the Soviets we would not

be having this discussion

[Journeyman]

2. They may not have found democracy but they've certainly got an eye on a cash cow . . .

I think we could all use financial assistance from now until 2030 (and what the heck, beyond then as well!).

[Garion_55]

3. tough.

talk to pakistan.

[gratuitous]

4. Don't you fret, Mr. Karzai

As long as Afghanistan has all those untapped natural resources, you'll never be lonely. Besides, what's a little corruption and a whole lot of retail random slaughter of people, anyway? 60% of your people have cell phones! Yahoo!

[msongs]

5. grow more opium poppies. that seems to fit their moral codes pretty well nt

[russspeakeasy]

6. This goes on W's tab, right?

[lib2DaBone]

7. OF COURSE.. they need money as long as we are handing it out.

[Arctic Dave]

8. "60 percent of Afghans now have cellphones"

Might as well say that they can monitor 60% and won't be happy until they can do it to the entire 100%.

What a fucking moronic metric to measure your country's progress.

[Lasher]

9. Afghan VIPs Steal $10 Million From You Every Day, in Cash

Afghan government VIPs stuff your tax dollars into suitcases and fly the money out of the Kabul airport to parts unknown, possibly at the rate of about $10 million bucks a day. That's one of the startling conclusions in the latest report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction released on Wednesday.

It says that the United States has pumped more than $70 billion into development projects in Afghanistan since 2002. A lot of that is converted to cash. But the United States has "limited visibility over U.S. cash that enters the economy -- leaving it vulnerable to fraud and diversion to the insurgency." In other words, Afghans are stealing our money or giving it to other Afghans who kill U.S. soldiers. Great.

It would help if Americans could monitor what the heck was going on at the Afghan central bank, but Afghan President Hamid Karzai has "barred U.S. government advisors" from going there.

And we are not allowed to look into the suitcases of government VIPs as they ship out cash at the airport, since the Afghan government lets VIP bypass the main security and customs screening area. Oh, and U.S. officials are barred from the VIP area.

In other good news, the report adds that the U.S. Treasury Department does alert the Afghan Attorney General about suspected financial crimes. But the Afghan Attorney General doesn't do much with that information.

http://battleland.blogs.time.com/2011/07/21/afghan-vips-steal-10-million-from-you-ever-day-in-cash/

[KoKo]

10. lol's...figures...:-(

[Lasher]

11. That's $3.7 billion going out of the country each year, not counting in-country corruption.

In FY 2009 we gave Afghanistan $3 billion in economic assistance and $5.8 billion in military assistance.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_foreign_aid

Looks like all of the economic assistance is going to Afghan VIPs.

[KoKo]

12. The amount we've spent for so little progress there is disgusting...along

with the money we spent bombing Iraq and then re-building...and reports say that many Iraqi's still don't have clean drinking water or consistent electrical power.

Money goes mostly to corruption...as you say. :-(

[Lasher]

13. We have got to stop pouring money down those ratholes.

Looks like we're going to get the remaining 13,000 soldiers out of Iraq by the end of this month.

http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/Centers/Saban/Iraq%20Index/index.pdf (scroll to page 13)

Now Congress needs to cut off the funding going there. Otherwise the MIC and the President (this President and any other who is elected) will keep it going with mercenaries and money. That's what finally got us out of Vietnam. Congress cut off the funding.

BTW, the site I linked above has tracked monthly progress in key areas such as commercial power availability. Brookings also has an Afghanistan Index and a Pakistan Index, which can be accessed http://www.brookings.edu/saban/iraq-index.aspx">here.

These Brookings Indexes are very good resources.