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This section of the website is dedicated to the International community and institutions working or supporting Afghanistan.
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The website of The Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF), coming soon...
for the World Bank related site click here the contents of the website are only provided in English!
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2021-10-12 00:00:00 Solar 1400-07-21 00:00:00
Your Excellency Mario Draghi and G20 leaders,
Thank you all, respected G20 leaders for convening and by giving your precious time for the G20 Extraordinary Leaders’ Meeting on Afghanistan.
Politically, innocent Afghan people are sandwiched between Taliban & the world, as relief from this nightmare. I would like to bring to your kind attention an immediate fix to meet the humanitarian needs and long term political solution to enable Afghanistan to become a supportive member of international community:
1- IMMEDIATE FIX TO MEET THE HUMANITARIAN NEEDS
To over come the dilemma, the best approach for G20 leaders will be to support the establishment of a humanitarian Free Zone inside Afghanistan and from there support the disbursement and management of humanitarian assistance. For transparency in addition to Taliban government and international NGO' empower Afghan civil society and private sector in management & monitoring of funds based on open governance. Also the assistance should focus on income generation program rather than simply feeding the hungry and making them more and more dependent on the aid. If required I will be pleased to submit a comprehensive proposal for due consideration.
2- POLITICAL SOLUTION TO ENABLE AFGHANISTAN BECOME A SUPPORTIVE MEMBER OF INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY:
We request respected G20 Leaders to support the following to enable Afghanistan politically become a supportive member of international community rather than craving for support and dependency:
A- Condition Taliban to become a political party and create legislation for others to form political parties. Quickly Taliban and other political parties should create laws for a safe environment for constructive political opposition.
B- Due to lack of strong national political parties the concept of inclusive government based on ethnicity and religious belief in #Afghanistan has been counterproductive specially for the past 40 years. Condition Taliban to form a government of professional & committed people to create localized bureaucracy of governance and constructive opposition. For this to happen, along with devoted Taliban members, impartial professional Afghans should be appointed as cabinet members.
Due to it's geopolitical position, Afghanistan remains center of world politics for centuries. To benefit all & prevent clashes, we need to create political conditions to enable Afghanistan to create rules for geopolitical routing and to avoid clash of interest.
Looking forward for your consideration
Thank you and all the best from Afghanistan
Noor Rahman Liwal
Thank you all, respected G20 leaders for convening and by giving your precious time for the G20 Extraordinary Leaders’ Meeting on Afghanistan.
Politically, innocent Afghan people are sandwiched between Taliban & the world, as relief from this nightmare. I would like to bring to your kind attention an immediate fix to meet the humanitarian needs and long term political solution to enable Afghanistan to become a supportive member of international community:
1- IMMEDIATE FIX TO MEET THE HUMANITARIAN NEEDS
To over come the dilemma, the best approach for G20 leaders will be to support the establishment of a humanitarian Free Zone inside Afghanistan and from there support the disbursement and management of humanitarian assistance. For transparency in addition to Taliban government and international NGO' empower Afghan civil society and private sector in management & monitoring of funds based on open governance. Also the assistance should focus on income generation program rather than simply feeding the hungry and making them more and more dependent on the aid. If required I will be pleased to submit a comprehensive proposal for due consideration.
It is very import to know, if aid is channeled through neighboring countries, it will lead to more Afghan migration to those countries and from there to the world, therefore, it is very important to assist people inside Afghanistan.
We request respected G20 Leaders to support the following to enable Afghanistan politically become a supportive member of international community rather than craving for support and dependency:
A- Condition Taliban to become a political party and create legislation for others to form political parties. Quickly Taliban and other political parties should create laws for a safe environment for constructive political opposition.
B- Due to lack of strong national political parties the concept of inclusive government based on ethnicity and religious belief in #Afghanistan has been counterproductive specially for the past 40 years. Condition Taliban to form a government of professional & committed people to create localized bureaucracy of governance and constructive opposition. For this to happen, along with devoted Taliban members, impartial professional Afghans should be appointed as cabinet members.
Due to it's geopolitical position, Afghanistan remains center of world politics for centuries. To benefit all & prevent clashes, we need to create political conditions to enable Afghanistan to create rules for geopolitical routing and to avoid clash of interest.
Looking forward for your consideration
Thank you and all the best from Afghanistan
Noor Rahman Liwal
Presidential Candidate 2019
#humanitarianFreeZone
#G20
#G20Italy
IMF and Afghanistan’s other Donors and Creditors: Stop The Afghanistan Debt And Aid Trap To Save Millions Of Innocent Lives Worldwide #StopTheAfghanistanDebtTrap
پښتو
فارسی
2020-05-14 00:00:00 Solar 1399-02-25 00:00:00
Afghans strongly rejects the $220 millions #IMF loan and any other institutions giving loans to the current weak Afghanistan government which will add to the grand political corruption, crime and more conflicts. We warn the lenders that people of Afghanistan are determined to stop this government from acquiring loans and the future government to pay back. #StopTheAfghanistanDebtTrap #AfghansRejectIMFLoan #DontBorrowFromIMFforCovid19 and #ملي_کمپاین is now the national campaign of Afghans on social media in support of this petition opposition to the IMF and other loans and changes in Aid dynamics.
We warned IMF and other lenders, if they do not listen, massive street protest will follow. On 25th June, the first wave of the street protest happened in Kabul, it will go nation wide if IMF persist being deaf-mute.
We warned IMF and other lenders, if they do not listen, massive street protest will follow. On 25th June, the first wave of the street protest happened in Kabul, it will go nation wide if IMF persist being deaf-mute.
Afghans are strongly concerned about the current $220 million IMF and other institutions giving loans to the current weak Afghanistan government which will add to the grand political corruption, crime and more conflicts. Kindly sign this petition and appeal to the Afghanistan’s Donors and Creditors: To stop giving loans or support changes in the loans and aid disbursement to save millions of innocent lives worldwide.
SUMMARY OF THE APPEAL
Stop giving loans or in addition to international organizations and Afghanistan’s government, equally empower Afghan civil society organizations and private sector in the management, disbursement, implementation and monitoring of funds based on open governance to bring peace in Afghanistan and save lives worldwide.
THE APPEAL
For the past 19 years, trillions(1) of US dollars(2) are generously donated or spent in Afghanistan by the international community, out of which the top five are United States (US), Japan, Germany and United Kingdom (UK) where each spent billions on their boots and related programs to win hearts and minds, while the fifth, India, committed herself without military to the support of a government established according to the Bonn Agreement (Afghanistan)(3) .
The allocation and disbursement of donated funds were managed by political missions and aid bodies of the respected countries; international bodies like World Bank, United Nation (UN) agencies, for or along with the Afghanistan government being the main beneficiary, because of weak or no monitoring system and or accountability, the generosity has turned to Phantom Aid. The aid helped little and did not bring stability, ease poverty or improve economic and living conditions of the common Afghans. Instead, the main beneficiaries of fund are a few hundred individuals and organizations inside and outside of Afghanistan.
Since 2001, about 43,000 Afghan civilians, 2,298 U.S. troops, 64,000 local military and police and 3,814 private contractors working for the Pentagon alone have been killed and millions of Afghans and others injured, mimed and displaced or lost their livelihood in Afghanistan (4). The year 2018 was the deadliest year for all civilians, with 3,804 deaths, including 927 children, therefore, any small positive changes to reduce tension, violence and corruption can save lives worldwide as addressed in this appeal.
APPEAL TO THE CREDITORS
As political systems are judged by their outcomes, during the past two decades majority of the aid money is given to the Afghan government, which could not provide justice or civil services even in the city centers, because of corruption and injustice, 70% of the countryside populations are forced to go to desert trials of militants and the fighting continues.
The democracy could not prevail because corrupt politicians and warlords will do anything to remain in government positions to have their share of the aid money, supporting militancy in one way or the other. A government that could never conduct an election without widespread fraud, where in a population of 40 million Afghans, the current government winner is elected by only 900 thousand votes, that also given mainly by the government servants and their families as a result of bribes or fear of losing the job. A government voted by only 2% of the Afghan population cannot be a representative or an elected government.
Therefore, we request all international creditors to not provide credit or loan to the present Afghan government, if provided, Afghan nation will not accept it as loan and will not allow the future governments to repay them, your generosity will be considered helping a playmate of your choice for the miseries of Afghans. As of this writing, without transparency and adequate usage, the Afghanistan national debt is exaggerated 1.4 billion over the internet.
With billions of aid received on behalf of Afghanistan by a government that is placed in Kabul by the Bonn Agreement, Afghanistan remains to be the least peaceful country, the least developed, ranked below 170 in the Human Development Index, the least educated where only about 20% can read and write, the most corrupt country scoring 16 points out of 100 on the 2019 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) and always below that in the previous years.
Due to corruption and imposed war, nearly 70% of the population is forced to live below the poverty line. Yet, now that the Covid-19 is hitting the majority and providing more opportunities for politically correctness and corruption, many Afghans live a day on flatbreads and water only. If proper measures are not taken immediately that bread will run out soon and a human catastrophe will emerge which will be a shameful history for all of us and far more shameful for those who supported the initiatives of the last two decades. If the circumstance force you to provide credit, kindly consider the inclusiveness explained to the donors as follow:
APPEAL TO THE DONORS
The donated money plays a big role by empowering the mighty and the corrupt, therefore, it is very important and humanitarian to empower the marginalized and unfortunate by changing the management and disbursement of the donated funds to save the achievements of the last two decades, prevent a famine and another social disturbance in Afghanistan.
My article of 8 February 2002 titled BALANCED ECONOMIC CONDITIONS WILL GUARANTEE PEACE IN AFGHANISTAN and in July of 2002 leading to the establishment of Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (artf.af), and as reported by ARTF website, From 2012-2019, ARTF received US dollars 63 billion donation from 34 countries(5) of which 61.5 billion was spent according to the World Bank and the Kabul government programs, and in due course 1.6 billion is returned to the donors because they were not able to justify spending. There is no data for billions from 2002-2011.
I am glad that the ARTF was formed as I dreamed in 2002 with the objectives and fund collection mechanism fully adopted, but my recommendation for the check and balance was ignored and left to the internal or favored monitoring and evaluation systems of the involved parties, that could be one of the big reasons the Afghanistan government is consistently achieving 10-16 out of 100 points on the CPI! It is amazing that ARTF become so rich that in their audit reports they will not publish the names of any donor who has less than $100 million as contribution!
I have been watching the ARTF benefiting some for the past 18 years, but Afghanistan was not making progress as we all expected. I tried to fix the problem myself and for this reason, nominated myself for the Afghanistan’s presidential elections in 2014, 2019, see www.noorrahmanliwal.com.
There is no need to blame anyone, as in Afghanistan, result speaks for itself. We are nearly back to square one of the late 1980s of the Soviet Union invasion eras, during that time people migrated to cities and were living just on bread and water provided by the Kabul regime. Now again, nearly 80% of Afghans are living below poverty lines in the cities and cannot go to villages and the agriculture. While millions urgently need assistance, the Kabul government is forced to give only 10 flatbreads/family of at least 7 members per day for few, which could vanish sooner if not later.
Afghanistan has the wrong government for loans and Covid-19 crisis, IMF and the World Bank is taking advantage of the situation. In May 2020, $240 million from ARTF fund and $160 million from World Bank were allocated for developing reporting websites, biomatric records of the government employees and copy paste policies for some government institutions. To justify fund spending, these activities are triplicated in several ministries. Also, billions are donated, but the Kabul government is asking the IMF for $220 million emergency loan for Covid-19!
Following our #StopTheAfghanistanDebtTrap since 2019, public and opposition politician are rejecting acquisition of any loan for the current government. Legislative body Wolisi Jirga (House of the People), also rejected the #IMF loan, but members Mshranw Jirga (House of Elders), who are occupying their seats despite having their parliament terms ending twice, approved the loan. They will support any government wrong doing to have their seats! Therefore, no matter how many donations or loans are taken with the present governance mechanism in place, it will always be insufficient and wasted because of no accountability and transparency.
Therefore, now in these difficult times we all need to forgive and forget the past, and focus solely on the present and future to save millions of innocent lives that are on the verge of being lost, not because of COVID-19, but poverty, corruption and political correctness of few. Currently, we are not able to change the attitude of the Afghanistan government and its aid-hungry giant employees and warlords. Therefore, through this appeal, we are reaching the respected donors and creditors to help the Afghan people and support the inclusion of non-profit and private sectors in the implementation and disbursement of the Phantom Aid to make it more productive:
Presently the donations are directly spent by some donors and some are collected by ARTF like establishment and disbursed according to the demands and programs of the Kabul Government. For transparency and proper utilization, we recommend for the national programs, in addition to the public sector (Afghan government), the Afghan private sector and the civil society organization should be given equal shares of the fund to be allocated according to the priorities and initiatives they see required for the Afghan society as follows.
Public Sector
In addition to public revenue, the government will spend its share of the donations according to their priorities for law and order and good governance, but open governance rules should be attached to all aid spending.
Private Sector
Afghan private sector representatives as the second party, will have their own share of donated funds to be prioritized and managed, for establishing business development services that are important for the society, such initiatives are not new and well experienced under "Matching Grants Projects" by some international organization. All activities, initiatives and funding will be public in nature and national property, do not think that we are funding private businesses, only the elected private sector representative will prioritize and manage donations voluntarily.
Civil Society Sector (NGO)
The third party, the Afghan non-profit and civil society organization sector will set their priorities and spend the aid resources according to their initiatives and priorities.
This will result in a proper wealth distribution and will stop war on the phantom aid resource for which all the warlords, corrupt politicians and factions are fighting and using government positions to have a share in. Based on open governance, private sector and civil society organizations will establish principles for which public sector will be forced to comply and hence this will stop the corruption and will end hostilities in Afghanistan.
All three sector representatives will jointly establish a central repository of monitoring and evaluation based on open governance principals and will be called the Trust Fund Evaluation and Monitoring Unit (TFEMU).
We undersigned while appreciate the generous contributions of the honorable donors to the people of Afghanistan during the last two decades, please support these small changes which will bring significant changes to the life of every Afghan and will help in ending the decade long imposed war.
And God bless you
Noor Rahman Liwal, Afghanistan Presidential Candidate 2019 and Presidential Nominee 2014, an Afghan philanthropist, entrepreneur, inventor, leading IT expert and businessman, owner of multi-national companies, Pashto TV, worked with governments, Mujahideen, United Nations Agencies and NGOs, can be reached at noorrahmanliwal.com and @nrliwal.
1. Out of the US's 100 billion(bn) dollars only $16.5bn are used on reconstruction, $85bn is wasted by the Kabul government and $3.9bn sent by US annually where 83% is spent on military purposes of “peace and security”. Japan is the second biggest donor of troops, spent over $92 billion. Germany being the third largest troop contributor, sent more than 100,000 soldiers, and contributes about 20% to the EU efforts, cost over $2.5bn. UK on forth position, sent $1.3bn in aid thousands of troops.India ranked fifth, has invested more than $2bn in infrastructure and support of the Kabul government
( data from internet ).
2. Data from Internet.
3. Bonn Agreement, empowering some warlords over the others and cementing the warlordism forever in Afghanistan.
4. Source fcnl.org
5. As per ARTF.af/internet, countries and their contributions are expressed in billions(bn) of dollars: United Kingdom $3.8, Australia $2.7, United States $8.6, Norway $14.2, Netherlands $2.2, Sweden $ 10.7, Canada $ 2.0, Germany $ 3.8, Switzerland $1.3, Korea, Denmark $8.2, Belgium $0.3, Italy $ 0.1, Austria $2.7, Ireland, Hungary, Finland $3.0, France $ 1.4, New Zealand, Spain, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Luxembourg, Qatar, Indonesia, South Africa, Nigeria, Brazil, Colombia, Other like world bank and sovereign donors $2.5 Billion, information will be updated on receipt from original sources.
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هېواد لپاره يو ميليارد ډالرو مرستو په راټولو له نړيوالې ټولنې خو ځانګړي ډول جرمني څخه مننه کوو چې سخت وخت کې يې د ټولو مرستو ترنيمو لا ډېره ژمنه وکړه. هيله ده ددغو مرستو وېش کې د تېرو څو لسيزو ناانډوليو مخنيوي پموخه ګامونه پورته کړل شي، حل لپاره زما وړانديز لومړى يادونه کې وګورئ.
د لېوال ښې حکومتولۍ پروګرام لاندې موږ د څارنې لپاره کمپيوټري اوزار جوړ کړي چې دغه برخه کې ستره مرسته کولاى شي، موږ حکومت او نړيوالې ټولنې سره همکاري ته چمتو يو.
نور رحمان لېوال
نور رحمان لېوال
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ولسي جرګې د ارګ له لوري "د پيسو نړيوالې پانګې" يا "د پيسو نړيوال وجهي صندوق" څخه د کرونا سره د مبارزې په موخه د ۱۷ ميليارده افغانيو پور په غوڅو رايو رد کړ چې موږ يې هرکلى او ملاتړ کوو.
د يادونې وړ ده چې تېرو شلو کلونو کې له ميليادرونو نړيوالو مرستو سره چې د کابل حکومتي ادارو يې لا د نيمو لګولو وړتيا نه درلوده او ډېرى مرستې بېرته مرستندويو هېواد ته واپس شوي، خو نادوده داده چې په ٢٠١٨ز کال کې افغانستان ١٣٥٣مليونونه ډالر له نړيوالو څخه پوروړى شوى. هر افغان ناخبره ٤٠ډالر پوروړى دى، په دغه اړه موږ د ماليې وزرات څخه د مالوماتو غوښتنه کړې چې هېواد د چا پورړوى دى، خو دوى دغه ډول مالومات شريکول نه غواړي؟!
په هېوادوالو غږ کوو چې بيدار شي او په نړيوال غږ وکړي، د کابل هغه حکومت چې ټوله نړۍ يې په پسات/فساد کې سرکښ بولي، پور ورکولو مسئوليت افغان ولس نه اخلي، لومړى به ولس پرېنږدي چې دا حکومت پور وکړي. همدارنګه افغان ولس او د هغه په استازيتوب موږ په نړيوالو غږ کوو چې له دغه حکومت څخه وروسته به افغان ولس هېڅ حکومت ته اجازه ورنکړي چې د دوى پور ونه ادا کړي، نړيوال بايد خبر وي.
د ١٣٩٠ کال ولسمشريزو ټاکنو پروخت ما وړاندوينه کړې وه چې ارګ ترشاه نړيوال دسيسګرو لاس دى چې غواړي افغانستان د تل لپاره پوروړى او مات کړي، د کابل حکومت ٥٠٪ وړيا مرستو بوديجې نشې لګولاى د پورونو د پرځاى لګولو توان خو هېڅ نه لري، نور ويډيو کې وګورئ.
افغانان بايد خپل راتلونکي نسلونه له پوروړي کېدو وژغورئ، د ١٣٩٣ ټاکنو پر مهال مو خپلو ملاتړو او مينوالو ته ويل، چې ښاغلى غني د "کاروبار په دوران" نه پوهېږي او د هېواد اقتصاد به سخت خراب کړي، چې نن يې ټول په ځان ويني او مني.
دا خبره مو د غني د کړو وړو په ارزونه کوله چې د هغه وخت حکومت کې يې سلاکارۍ، پوهنتون رياست او ماليې وزارت کې ترسره کول. کله چې غني د ماليې وزير وو د هغه تره ښاغلي کوچي په لاس مو وړانديز ورولېږه، "که هېواد ته په خامو توکو راوړلو له ٥ تر١٠ کاله ماليه وانخيستل شي او په پخو توکو له ١٠٠٪ تر ١٠٠٠٪ ماليه واخيستل شي نو پنځه کاله کې هېواد پخپلو پښو درېږي". کوچي وړانديز ور رسولى وو او د غني ځواب وو" چې د بازار عرضه او تقاضا به څنګه پوره کېږي؟ زه پوه شوم چې ښاغلى غني په اقتصاد نه پوهېږي.
اوس ټول يو ځل بيا خبروم، که دا ځل مو ښاغلى غني بريالى کړ، غني به له نړيوالو ادارو زښت ډېر پورونه وکړي او د دغو پورنو ٩٠٪ به د پسات (فساد) ښکار شي، چې راتلونکي کې به هر افغان بچى ان د مور په خېټه کې د نړيوالو اقتصادي ادارو پوروړى وي.
اوس چې حکومت نړيوالو د خپلو موخو لپاره وتاپه هېوادوال بايد "د پورکول نه پرېښودل د ملت ژغورل" چيغه بدرګه کړي او هم د پړسيدلو مرستو په نوم راغلې پانګه بايد کابو کړل شي.
نور رحمان لېوال
My article of 8 February 2002, titled BALANCED ECONOMIC CONDITIONS WILL GUARANTEE PEACE IN AFGHANISTAN lead to the establishment of The Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF) in July of 2002, a multi-billion dollar fund for the World Bank and the Afghanistan government! I am glad that the TRUST FUND part of my article is fully adopted and no wonder that the TRUST FUND CHANNEL portion was drastically modified, that could be one of the reasons the Afghanistan government is consistently achieving 10-16 out of 100 points on the CIP since then! It is pleasing that the name I recommended AFGHAN REHABILITATION AND RECONSTRUCTION TRUST FUND was adopted with minor changes and becoming THE AFGHANISTAN RECONSTRUCTION TRUST FUND! This happened exactly six months after the dissemination of my article.
Since then I have been watching the ARTF benefiting many for the past 18 years, but Afghanistan was not making progress as I and many others was expecting, that is why I am trying to fix the problems myself and for this reason, nominated myself for the Presidential elections in 2014, and contested in 2019 and will be contesting in the future also, read more in www.noorrahmanliwal.com
Unfortunately, both of the times I am defeated by the corruption and the frauds in the Election Commissions, the elections and the government, which may have been powered by the generous aid provided by ARTF, World Bank, ADB, USAid and others. There is no need to blame anyone, in Afghanistan, the results speak for itself, we are nearly back to square one of the late 1980s of the Soviet Union invasion era, during that time people migrated to cities and were living just on bread and waters, provided by the Kabul regime. Now again nearly 80% of Afghans are living below poverty lines in the cities and can not go to villages, the Kabul regime of Dr. Ghani and Dr. Abdullah is forced to give only 10 Flat breads/family of 7/day for millions and that could also vanish sooner if not later, thanks God that ARTF have $400 million that could feed some for sometime and we all need to take actions to save country from collapsing:
Therefore, now in these difficult times we all need to forget and forgive the past, just focus on the present and future to save millions of innocent lives, that are in the verge of being lost, not because of COVID-19, but poverty, corruption and politically correctness of few. We may not be able to change the attitude of the Afghanistan government and its Aid hungry giant employees and Warlords, but we can fix and change the implementation and disbursement of the Phantom Aid to make it more productive:
I am working on my new article how to change implementation and disbursement of the Phantom Aid to make it more productive and save lives, therefore, I need cooperation and information if readers of this message have:
1- What is the total value of your organization or organization that you know provided grant to Afghanistan till date?
2- Which sectors the grant covered and what is the percentage?
3- Has your organization or organization that you know provided any loan to Afghanistan if yes how much Afghanistan owe to that organization till date?
If you have access to above information kindly share via email and other means at the top of website.
Best Regards
Noor Rahman Liwal
#nrliwal
Note: An email was sent to ARTF, World Bank, ADB, NDB, IMF and some of the people I shared my article in 2002, we will see how responsive they are?
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2002-02-08 00:00:00
Note to the reader:
My this article lead to the establishment of The Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF) in July of 2002, a multi-billion dollar fund for the World Bank and the Afghanistan government! I am glad that the TRUST FUND part of my article is fully adopted and no wonder that the TRUST FUND CHANNEL portion was drastically modified, that could be one of the reasons the Afghanistan government is consistently achieving 10-16 out of 100 points on the CIP since then! It is pleasing that the name I recommended AFGHAN REHABILITATION AND RECONSTRUCTION TRUST FUND was adopted with minor changes and becoming THE AFGHANISTAN RECONSTRUCTION TRUST FUND! This happened exactly six months after the dissemination of my article.
BACKGROUND
Afghanistan is a war-torn country with majority of its young generation. Who were supposed to be today’s skilled and even highly skilled manpower are trained and supported by foreigners as factional war militants. The training and support of these militants was in undisciplined manner but ethnic, religiously and linguistically motivated, without respect to Afghan national values, the most challenged task is to rehabilitate these irresponsible and un-accountable militants into productive members of the Afghan society.
Presently 50% of the Afghan population is migrated to neighboring countries or internally displaced, 70% malnourished and many traumatized, more then 11% are severe disabled, most illiterate where less then 5% can read and write.
During the last three decades those who were engaged in Afghanistan, be former Soviet Union, Afghan factions and the present United Stats and their allies, all insisted on achievements of military and strategically important objectives but ignored proper political settlements to the Afghan issue. Also many totally disregarded any responsibility toward reconstruction and rehabilitation of Afghanistan.
In many cases Afghans are offered assistance of billions, but received in form of foreign experts and materials not needed by Afghans; as expenses of an ideal Afghan government wanted by the supporters; or in form of expired commodities; or like bombs and food drops together. Which further added to the problems of Afghans, region and international community.
Those who were militarily failed in Afghanistan are defeated forever, but those who were successful tried their Afghan experiences somewhere else, which was complete failure, good example is the recent Taliban who tried their Afghan militant supremacy in many other countries. Afghanistan is historically and emotionally strong but not militarily, technically and economically. Experiences gained in Afghanistan be social, military or developmental are not applicable in other countries or vice versa.
Afghanistan at least needed more then double of the resources for political settlements, rehabilitation and reconstructions, which are spent on military campaign at any given time. But no one is ready to commit and provide that in real. After the successful Air strikes of the US and their allies now “the message from western governments is that Afghanistan must be patient - it will take time to drag the country from the 15th century into the 21st”.
The UN estimates that Afghanistan needs $100m within days, just to cover wage for the next six months. Others estimate that Afghanistan needs $5bn over the next two and half years to begin economic recovery, and $15bn over 10 years for long term development. The interim government, led by Mr.Hamid Karzai, has requested $45bn from international donors to put the country back on her feet. This may prove a more realistic estimate of how much the country needs.
20 years of war, three years of famine and foreign interference brought the Afghan economy to a state of collapse. In Afghanistan economic rehabilitation & peace building process should go together, balanced economic conditions would guarantee peace and security.
At present active players and funding source for rehabilitation and reconstruction of Afghanistan can be categorized into two. 1) Donors governments and United Nations.
2) International community through International NGOs. It’s recommended that donor governments and United Nations in collaboration with Afghan government form a “Trust Fund” and International NGOs in cooperation with Afghan government form a “Trust Fund Channel”.
TRUST FUND
The “Trust Fund” which can be called Afghan Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Trust Fund, also recommended by World Bank, United National Development Program and Asian Development Bank. The fund should be technically managed and administered by Trust Fund to which Afghan government should be a partner. The Trust Fund will help the Afghan government in allocating and spending the fund for physical and institutional, mainly Infrastructures reconstruction like roads, highways, education, government institutions, telecommunications and etc.
Another Area the Fund Trust should assist is the human resource development. Without human resource on every level the challenged job is the implementation of reconstruction program. We have great needs, but we also lack the ability to spend the money. In the past improper allocation of outside help in one and another form developed ethnic and regional powers, which are at present problem for Afghanistan as well as international community. They may develop in future too if distribution of fund continues without accountability.
For international community to empower the Afghan community a Micro Credit Bank will be the best option. The Trust Fund may create and support the bank with provision of Micro Credits for deprived population and community projects. The banks should also offer low interest loans to successful business and developments.
Both Trust Fund and Afghan government should have monitoring and evaluating access to the bank’s activities but should have no access to the bank assets.
TRUST FUND CHANNEL
International NGOs in cooperation with Afghan government and community should form “Trust Fund Channel” which will lead to empower the community and accountability. Also empower the communities to cooperate with NGOs.
The “Trust fund Channel” should establish a High-tech center in Kabul and branches on provincial level with provision of touch screen Databases having statistics, reports and information about, planned, on going and completed projects.
The community member, Afghan National NGOs and contactors will identify problems and submit request to “Trust Fund Channel Center” Trust will input them into database and should be accessible to everyone.
The Trust Fund Channel will have the international NGOs as funding partners and Afghan National NGOs and business as implementing partners. Who should compete for the implementation of projects, where community, government agencies, funding partners will have monitoring and reporting rights on the Trust Fund Channel will provide the platform for all.
In addition to the technical, data analyst and data entry officers, the Trust Fund Channel must also have a monitoring and confirmation cell, who’s task will be evaluation, monitoring and comments on disputed projects and monitoring to maintain quality of database. All the Trust Fund Channel officials should be paid generously in return for devoting a substantial term of service to this difficult and dangerous task, everything possible should be done to establish their position, prestige and security.
There is a gap between the NGOs and Afghan community. The community believes that during the last two decades International agencies and NGOs acted like parallel governments in Afghanistan. NGOs are over-estimating their services to the Afghan community and judge their services by provision of high salaries to few Afghan experts. Although their support is appreciated but was ineffective because of duplication and no sustainability, was bad in quality and worse in accountability.
In Afghanistan the big danger the governments face from NGOs is the attraction of Afghan experts, offering them highly paid Jobs, NGOs hire the best. Therefore, the government functions are carried out by less capable ones. Also in many cases NGOs have challenged the government programs and acted like ministries. Alrasheed Trust an NGO is a good example who challenging the United Nations Programs in Afghanistan. Also the support of Western NGOs to Afghan resistance groups fighting against Soviet Unions and the then communist regime should be kept in mind.
Like most other sectors the business community in Afghanistan is mostly suffered and it should benefit from rehabilitation and reconstruction activities. But in many cases NGOs are found of unfair competition with business, in unfair competition a opportunity for establishing a long timer business oriented service is lost and sooner or later the NGO will leave and the community is left without services.
We have few Afghan experts who are mostly engaged in non-formal trade, NGOs and more then 50% are in exile. The International NGOs should not try to compete with them but try to build their capacities and encourage them to return.
N.R.Liwal, an Afghan, freelance writer and Information Technology consultant, worked with Afghan resistance groups, run and worked with NGOs, severed in United Nations Agencies for Afghanistan and is currently running IT business, as consultant to many Afghan and International NGOs, UN agencies, Afghan factions, communities and governments is enjoying wider contact within the Afghan community. He can be contact via email