Pubdate: Wed, 06 Jun 2007 Source: National Post (Canada) Copyright: 2007 Southam Inc. Contact: http://www.nationalpost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286 Author: Steven Edwards, CanWest News Service Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Afghanistan Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/poppy+farming AFGHAN ANTI-DRUG PROGRAM STALLED Canadian Funds to Fight Narcotics Trade Left Unspent UNITED NATIONS - Four months after Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a substantial increase in funding for Afghan reconstruction and development -- with a large portion of the new money slated for anti-drug programs -- Afghanistan's cumbersome bureaucracy has managed to spend only a fraction of the windfall. Britain, chief donor to the US$42.3-million fund, is so alarmed it has "turned off the [money] tap" until Afghanistan's ministries show they can spend the cash, which has languished in the Counter Narcotics Trust Fund since its inception in 2005. Critics say leaving the money to sit idle is scandalous, given that Canadian and other NATO troops are locked in a deadly struggle to make the country safe for reconstruction. Since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, 56 Canadian soldiers and a Canadian diplomat have been killed, as well as nearly 500 soldiers of the international forces. Canadian officials are more guarded than their British colleagues when asked if Canada has interrupted the flow of taxpayer money to the fund pending improvements in the Afghan government's efficiency. "The trust fund is relatively new and operates in a challenging environment," said a Foreign Affairs spokesperson. "It is accordingly expected that considerable initial effort would be invested in getting the building blocks right for responsible assistance to be programmed." The department did not answer inquiries about the exact status of the $3-million Mr. Harper pledged for the fund in February, among $200-million for other anti-drug, reconstruction and development programs. As a result, it remains unknown whether Canada will follow the British example and hold back or stagger delivery of its latest pledge. The Canadian International Development Agency has been more forthcoming, confirming it has delivered $1.2-million it agreed in March, 2006, to hand over. The fund, one of the Afghan government's flagship reconstruction programs, aims to combat drug production in part by giving people other means to earn a living. "Our appeal to donors is to trust the trust fund," said Habibullah Qaderi, the Afghan Counter Narcotics Minister, at the fund's launch. Since then, deposits plus pipeline pledges now total US$74.5-million, according to figures supplied yesterday by the UN Development Program, which acts as trustee. But while a management board that includes Afghan, UN and donor officials has approved US$27.2-million in projects, the Afghan government has taken charge of just US$7.2-million. As of last month, it had spent only US$1.3-million. "It's basically an administrative mess," said one international source with knowledge of the fund's workings. "There is something inherently wrong with the entire program, from the complicated application process, to confusion over what projects are eligible, to the sheer impossibility of working out who's actually doing the approving and the rejecting." While there are plenty of ideas for projects from officials and aid agencies throughout Afghanistan, applications must be made through government ministries --leading to the bottlenecks. "The main issue is ministry capacity," said one senior Western diplomat. "The government of Afghanistan started from an extremely low base." Approved projects include a micro-hydro system in northeastern Afghanistan that could boost incomes and create jobs by providing electricity. But that appears an isolated example. "I have not seen any impact of the significant financial contributions to that trust fund on the ground in Helmand or Kandahar [in the south], which is where I work," said Norine MacDonald, a leading Afghanistan researcher with the Senlis Council, a think-tank that last week issued a scathing criticism of CIDA's aid record in the country. She said poppy cultivation is up in those provinces, which are also the focus of Canadian troop deployments. "I think there are a lot of indicators that there is a lot of private dissatisfaction with how counter-narcotics policy is going in Afghanistan." Britain says it still has faith in the fund, but cannot justify further donations at present. "It's not about a continuous tap," said one British official. "It's rather, you turn on the tap and give a certain amount, and when the bucket's full, you turn off the tap. When the bucket is a bit emptier, you can add more." Other donors include the European Commission, Australia, Japan, Poland and Sweden. "There are plenty of other places where this stagnant money could be used," said an Australian diplomat. But officials stressed there is no concern the money might be swallowed by corruption or misdirected. "The general mood among donors is that they want to understand why there are bottlenecks before they add more money," another researcher said. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake