Afghanistan starved of humanitarian aid and overwhelmed with military hardware

Peace in Afghanistan is being undermined by the failure of Western nations to deliver promised assistance, according to aid agencies working in the country, as reported by Reuters. Afghanistan relies on international aid for 90 percent of its spending as it tries to rebuild state institutions shattered by nearly 30 years of war and at the same time fight off a renewed Taliban insurgency that killed 6,000 people last year. The U.S. military alone now spends some $100 million a day fighting Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, but spending on aid by all donors since 2001 amounts to only $7 million a day.

“Given the links between development and security, the effectiveness of aid also has a major impact on peace and stability,” the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR) said in a report. “Yet thus far aid has been insufficient and in many cases wasteful and ineffective,” said ACBAR.

Afghanistan received just $57 per capita in aid in the two years after international intervention, compared with $679 a head in Bosnia and $233 in East Timor, it said.