Clash Over Foreign Aid

Who should receive and disperse the foreign aid money flowing into Afghanistan: the government or the legion of domestic and international non-government organisations, NGOs, that have been handling much of the money up to now?

On one side of the debate are the growing number of officials who accuse the NGOs of corruption and inefficiency. On the other are the non-government groups, which contend that the government currently has neither the capacity nor the skills to handle the millions of dollars that are coming in.

A new law, signed by President Hamed Karzai in mid-June but not published until July, seeks to resolve the dispute by establishing stringent controls over which types of organisations can register for NGO status, and regulating the types of projects NGOs can undertake.

At present, there are close to 2,400 NGOs operating in the country, involved in projects ranging from dam construction to media development, like IWPR. Other than the requirement that they file quarterly reports with the economics ministry, the government has until now imposed few restrictions on their operations.

The new law requires all NGOs to reapply for permission to work in the country. Their applications must be approved by an evaluation commission composed of five representatives from various ministries, before the economics ministry can register them.

In addition, the new law bars NGOs from being involved in certain types of projects, such as construction and overtly political activities.

Some NGO directors say they are concerned that the legislation could limit the scope and effectiveness of their activities.

“The law has some shortcomings such as the lack of detail regarding expenditures, and the restrictions on NGO engagement in construction,” said Sayed Fazlullah Wahidi, chairman of the Afghan NGOs Coordination Bureau, ANCB, an umbrella organisation. “All of this indicates the imposition of limitations on NGO activities.”

The dispute over control of foreign-aid money has been simmering for some time.

Ramazan Bashardost, a former planning minister and long-time critic of how international aid funds are dispensed, has charged that the money has been misused by NGOs, and faulted the international community for not giving the assistance directly to the Afghan government.

Bashardost, who was forced to resign his post earlier this year after he attempted to close up to 80 per cent of registered NGOs, is now demanding the establishment of a commission to investigate cases where aid money has been misused. The commission should conduct its inquiry secretly, he says, and report to the government.

“The money that has been donated has not yet produced any effective work,” he argued.

Even Karzai railed against NGOs earlier this year, blaming them for the slow pace of reconstruction in the country.

“The corruption in NGOs has created obstacles in the reconstruction process of Afghanistan, and it is our job and the international organisations’ job to use the money in good ways,” the president said at an international donors conference in Kabul this spring.

Afghanistan has received large infusions of foreign aid since the American bombing campaign toppled the Taleban regime in late 2001. The country has received over four billion US dollars in assistance over the past three-and-a half- years - the vast majority of it funnelled through NGOs.

Some critics charge that the money has not always been well spent, saying too much has been siphoned off to finance what they see as the lavish lifestyles of overpaid foreign consultants, while some is simply wasted or stolen.

Bashardost has gone so far as to call NGOs “economic criminals”, and says, “The real NGOs are those that serve people 24 hours a day, not the ones that rent houses at high prices and waste a lot of money.”

But some analysts doubt that the still young government, which has yet to establish a democratically elected parliament, is up to the task of handling such vast amounts of money or undertaking complicated projects.

“NGOs have qualified experts on staff,” said Saifuddin Saihoon, a professor at the economics faculty of Kabul University. “Unfortunately, these people do not work in government.

“I don’t think donors will want to give aid directly to the Afghan government. I still have doubts as to whether it can implement its own programmes.”

Others say that since the government still lacks effective control over some parts of the country, it is unable to effectively operate relief and reconstruction programmes, especially in rural areas.

“The government is still not up to the task of coordinating assistance throughout the country,” said Mohammad Hashim Mayar, programme coordinator for the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief, ACBAR. “It still cannot help people in remote areas.”

According to Paul Barker, head of Care International in Afghanistan, “The Afghan government is too young, it doesn’t have much work experience. The banking system is not 100 per cent reliable and therefore the government will not be able to control the money.”

Economics Minister Mohammad Amin Farhang insists that the government is fully capable of assuming responsibility for the aid money. The new law, he said, is not intended to penalise NGOs but to make the whole structure more rational.

”We are not against those NGOs which achieve good work, but we are against those that misuse funds,” said Farhang.

For now, many NGO leaders are taking a wait-and-see approach.

“I hope that this law will distinguish between the good and bad NGOs,” said Barker.

Abdul Baseer Saeed is an IWPR staff reporter in Kabul.