Monday, April 04, 2005

How's free Afghanistan coming along?

An annual meeting of donor countries contributing billions of dollars to Afghanistan's reconstruction opened on Monday with a plea from President Hamid Karzai to let his three-month-old government take a leading role.

A fierce debate is raging over slow progress in making Afghans' everyday life easier. On Sunday Karzai accused non-government organizations (NGOs) of squandering funds channeled through them.

Karzai skirted the NGO controversy at the outset of the Afghan Development Forum on Monday, and instead pitched for more control over the way money is spent.

"The Afghan Government, as the ultimate body accountable to the Afghan people, must also be better informed about, and play its due role in, steering the development process," Karzai told an audience including representatives from some 40 donor countries.

[...]

Up to now, the government has been allowed to make [infrastructure] proposals, but feels it has little input in the final say over projects.

[...]

"The Government must become the anchor for a more integrated, transparent and accountable development effort," said Karzai, who had led an interim government for three years before winning a presidential election in October.

  Reuters article

What? He thinks Afghanistan gets to makes its own economic decisions? Was he born yesterday?

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