The Funds Flown to Afghanistan after 9/11

By: Hamid Durrani

The international community has shown up with a special interest in the development of the war-turn
country Afghanistan since the 9/11 attacks on twin tower of New York and the Pentagon in Washington
DC in United States of America. The international community came physically to Afghanistan based on
Bonn agreement when Karzai’s government established in 2002. It is an excellent introduction

As mentioned the development process practically started based on a plan parallel in private and public
sectors. The public sector is divided in several sectors called the development pillars. The strategy is
developed and planned by Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS) funded by World Bank
and the Afghanistan Reconstruction and Development Services (ARDS) was responsible for the
utilization of the funds granted by the donors to the line ministries of government under a proper
international procurement procedure. The Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF) works under
the Ministry of Finance and is responsible to collect and keep the funds received from the donor countries
and agencies like WB, ADB, USAID, EC, JAIKA, DFID and others.

On the other hand the allocations of the funds take place based on ministries request in accordance to
their annual development budget of each year under ARDS and their own Procurement/Project
Management Units (PMUs). The donated funds are in shape of grants, short and long terms loans. The
interest ratio on loans is as low as 1 - 2.5% namely by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank
(ADB).

Secondly the largest investment in public sector is seen in the transportation sector including the road net
works around the country called ring road, the city to district roads and the renovation of the 17 old
airports and the construction of the new airports in various provinces. The Afghan government reform
that includes the capacity building of the government servants under PRR program is the other sector
where the investment is seen. Beside that the power, education, defense and the entire training and
equipping of the national police under the Ministry of Interior are the sectors that are being developed by
the international community in last seven years. Beside that the private sector is also supported by the
donors especially by the US government to give a shoulder to the new born market economy in
Afghanistan. Several chambers/business unions are financially supported by USAID and EC. In
communication sector in form of mobile, line phones, fax, electronic media and internet systems a huge
amount is invested by the domestic and international business community in last few years.

As a result it has been noted that the common Afghan is still suffering the poverty in the country which
could be the result of the unfair distribution of the money and the highest ratio of the corruption in the
government. The corruption has caused lack of trust on the government. Statistics says that only 3 out of
15 billion dollars are utilized through the government channels and the rest 12 billions are either given to
NGOs and Firms or directly spent by the funding agencies without any records to Afghan government.
The international community has not full filled what they have pledged in the contribution of their part in
Bonn, London and in recent in Paris conferences. If the donors raise all the funds that are promised by
them and government being real reforms to stop the corruption and government own donation than the
development process can be accelerated in the country.

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