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  • Cold exposes Afghanistan's broken promises

    More than 600 people, many of them children, have died in a prolonged bout of bad winter weather in Afghanistan that has included unprecedented snowfall, heavy rain and below freezing temperatures.

    In some eastern provinces ravenous wolves have been attacking equally hungry children.

    The United Nations is just short of declaring "a humanitarian crisis" for Afghanistan.

    Yet the deaths and suffering and last month's air crash near Kabul are as much to do with the still chronically slow progress in rebuilding the country's destroyed infrastructure as the weather.

    Despite years of promises to rebuild Afghanistan, the international community is still failing to do so

    With no roads or other communications it has taken more than a month for aid workers or Western military units to reach some snowbound villages in western and north-eastern Afghanistan, where the majority of deaths have occurred.

    Afghans are still paying with their lives for the failure of the international community to fulfil its many promises to help rebuild the country.

    There has been no lack of response to the foul weather affecting 14 of the country's 34 provinces.

    More than 400,000 people have received food and other aid from the Afghan government, US-led coalition forces, Nato peacekeeping forces, UN agencies and Afghan and Western non-governmental organisations.

    The country has faced its severest winter in decades

    But they face the problem of how to get to them when snowfall has blocked mountain passes, avalanches have cut off villages, the few dirt track roads are impassable and there are no telephones to warn of impending disasters.

    Even in Kabul's premier Indira Gandhi hospital, children in incubators and on respirators live or die depending on whether there are power cuts to the hospital.

    Heating is non-existent and at times the temperature in the hospital has dropped to minus 10 degrees Celsius.

    Many of the districts have no functioning hospitals and local clinics are devoid of medicines.

    Now, in the first week of March, the World Food Programme has warned of unprecedented floods as the snow melts in the spring.

    Nearly three and half years after the war that defeated the Taleban and despite the remarkable political progress Afghanistan has made, the lack of infrastructure continues to haunt this country.

    New roads, power stations, water supplies and investment in agriculture which the majority of the population depend on, are still missing. Only one section - Kabul to Kandahar - of the national highway programme has been completed.

    No new power station has been built and only an estimated 6% of Afghans receive any regular electricity.

    The lack of clean drinking water, especially after six years of drought, causes disease and early death.

    What else has been done to rebuild the infrastructure has been patchwork at best - a generator here, a water tap there or a bulldozer flattening a dirt track road.

    The Kam Air crash last month that killed 104 passengers and crew on a flight from Herat to Kabul was only partially a result of bad weather.

    Kabul airport has no radar and there is no up-to-standard modern airport in the country, even though thousands of Western military aircraft safely land at their military bases in Afghanistan every year.

    Afghanistan needs new airports as much as it needs tarred roads.

    Pledges

    The money is there but the projects are not, due to bureaucratic bottlenecks that paralyse major aid donors such as the European Union, the US and the World Bank.

    Heating is non-existent at a premier Kabul hospital

    The international community pledged $13.4bn at the Tokyo and Berlin reconstruction conferences for the five years starting December 2001.

    This despite a needs assessment by the Afghan government of $27bn.

    Yet, according to the Centre on International Cooperation at New York University, until last month only $3.9bn had been given out for reconstruction projects.

    Of that only $900m worth of projects has actually been completed.

    In comparison Iraq is receiving many times what Afghanistan is getting in funds for reconstruction.

    The kind of effort the US-led coalition has put into rebuilding the power grid in Baghdad has never been seen in Kabul.

    'Sense of pessimism'

    In the meantime the lack of investment in Afghan agriculture has led to farmers growing opium poppies, which has led to drugs generating as much as $6.8bn in income between 2002 and 2004.

    Drugs now account for 60% of the economy, but you cannot blame the farmers when they have nothing else to turn to in order to feed their families.

    Drugs now account for 60 per cent of the economy

    ''Our team found the overwhelming majority of people hold a sense of pessimism and fear that reconstruction is bypassing them,'' says Daud Saba, one of the authors of a new UN Development Programme (UNDP) report on Afghanistan.

    The report ranks the country 173 out of 178 countries in development indices.

    There has been rapid progress in many fields such as health and education and five million children have gone back to school.

    Yet the UNDP report states Afghanistan still has ''the worst education system in the world'' and it is the world leader in infant deaths, while one woman dies in pregnancy every 30 minutes.

    Life expectancy for Afghans is still only 44 years - that is 20 years less than any of its neighbours.

    Nothing can restore Afghanistan's political unity, social viability and provide self-sustaining economic development until it has acquired at least that minimum basic infrastructure that was present in 1979 before the Soviet invasion.

    Foreign donors need to take up whole projects like building new power stations and roads, cutting through their own and the Afghan government's red tape and building in a hurry.

    They need to put their money where their mouth is, stop promising reconstruction and actually start delivering on it.

    Without this a rain or snowstorm - normal events for a people who have lived with extremes of weather for centuries - will continue to extract the lives of Afghan children and feed hungry wolves.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4310863.stm

  • #2
    Empty Promises - The children deaths "that should shame" Afghan donors. Have we left Afghanistan down like we said we weren't going to do?

    Comment


    • #3
      Rome wasn't built in a day, and it has the benefit of a much nicer location.

      Comment


      • #4
        Julie,

        Senior Member?

        In so far as Afghanistan is concerned, what you have posted is indeed heart wrenching.

        However, it is in the interest of global strategic powers to keep Afghanistan destabilised and under developed.

        If Afghanistan is kept so, then there is good reasons to have western presence to include military around the parts. Likewise, Osama should not be found.

        The strategic reason is that if there is western military presence, then it will be a threat to China and she will have to spend more on her defence needs and then there is a good chance that China will go USSR's way wherein the defence expenditure will be so high that the social and industrial sector will suffer and there will be discontent amongst the population. The result will then be similar to that of the USSR.

        That is why there is a growing interest in the Central Asian Republics (CAR), apart from the reason of oil and its transhipment westwards to Eastern Europe and to Turkey and through Afghanistan and Pakistan to India and the East.

        I am not exaggerating. The events indicate the same. India, which was not pro US, has been slowly weaned into the US camp. Dalai Lama has stated that he is ready to accept that Tibet is a part of China, Japan has suddenly decided to amend the Constitution and have a proper armed force rather than a Self Defence Force.

        While the India and Japan is understandable, the sudden change of Dalai Lama's heart is interesting. Tibet has slowly seen the entry of the Han settlers, which is how Chinese-isation is taking place of Tibet. This is not in the interest of the West. Therefore, if Dalai Lama returns there will be a centre of maintaining the separate Tibetan identity, which is essential to organise a 'revolution'.

        Likewise, the US has organised military assistance and aid to the CAR inlcuding Kirghyzstan, which is next to Xingjian. This province of China has the Moslems, who are a problem for China. Hence, US could organise a 'revolution'. If this revolution is organised in tandem with Tibet and there is a whole lot of hue and cry of human rights, there can be repression by China and that would alienate the population of these two Chinese states and there will be a residual effect that could be repeatedly exploited.

        Therefore, when viewed in the larger perspective, Afghanistan's fate will continue to be what it is.

        Pessimistic? Ah well, that is how the world runs.
        Last edited by Ray; 13 Mar 05,, 17:36.


        "Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

        I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

        HAKUNA MATATA

        Comment


        • #5
          My goodness Ray, I got more than I bargained for with that answer. I notice I get a much better response when I'm a "Senior Member." ;)

          So, in summary, it is in the best interest of global nations to keep Afghanistan weak, forcing the hand of its drug trade, as Afghanistan's main source of revenue. It is difficult for a weak country to fight terroristism, unless of course the US presence remains in check.

          In the meantime, with all of these "politics" mapping the future of Afghanistan, this is also at the expense of small dying children. Small sacrifices?
          Last edited by Julie; 13 Mar 05,, 18:45.

          Comment


          • #6
            Wasn't this stuff happening before the war too, even in the same places?
            No man is free until all men are free - John Hossack
            I agree completely with this Administration’s goal of a regime change in Iraq-John Kerry
            even if that enforcement is mostly at the hands of the United States, a right we retain even if the Security Council fails to act-John Kerry
            He may even miscalculate and slide these weapons off to terrorist groups to invite them to be a surrogate to use them against the United States. It’s the miscalculation that poses the greatest threat-John Kerry

            Comment


            • #7
              We, (NZ) are doing some stuff, with road & school reconstruction in the Bamyan province, about 120 personnel & various liason officers with other projects. Interestingly enough we're about to redeploy our SAS there:
              Helen Clark said that ministers have confirmed the following additional deployments:
              Re-deploy around fifty New Zealand Special Air Service (NZSAS) personnel to Afghanistan. The main body of this contingent will be deployed for up to 180 days from 1 April. They will be commanded by a New Zealand officer and will specialise in the planning and execution of long-range reconnaissance and direct action missions inside Afghanistan. They will operate with other special forces from countries contributing to coalition forces in Afghanistan. With an increase in regional stability, more Provincial Reconstruction Teams, like the New Zealand one in Bamian Province, will be able to be established.
              Extend the commitment of two NZDF non-commissioned officers to provide command and leadership training to the Afghan National Army to June 2005.
              Re-deploy one Royal New Zealand Navy frigate to the Maritime Interdiction Operation for four months from April 2004. The frigate will operate within the Gulf region as far west as the Horn of Africa.
              If required, re-deploy one Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3 Orion aircraft to the Maritime Interdiction Operation for six months, from July 2005. The Orion will operate in the same region as the RNZN frigate.
              SOURCE
              I think the idea is that once it's safer to send reconstruction crews, we'll contribute more.
              Imagine in this day and age having to fight off starving wolves! We produce enormous amounts of food in this country, I can't see why some of it can't be sent there, air drops aren't exactly difficult
              In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

              Leibniz

              Comment


              • #8
                India is also building roads.

                In fact the Indira Gandhi hospital at Kabul is also Indian, but I think that was before the US sorted out the Taliban.

                True that calamities did affect areas of the world, but this winter is rather hard than ever before. In the earlier times, there was no offer of international help for Afghanistan, but there was an offer and pledges of millions to pour into Afghanistan. The remain pledges on paper unfortunately.

                Julie,

                The Afghans are a hardy lot. They will survive.

                I am afraid in international politics and geo-strategy there is very little room for any softness, so to say. There are enough written to indicate that inimical nations purposely attempt to plant disease or ruin crops of adversary nations to topple govts or bring them to bankruptcy.

                Such is life.

                Though this much one has to grant the US, the public can pressure the govt to change its policies, which is not the case for majority of other nations.

                Parihaka,

                It is as safe as can be in Afghanistan. It was never a safe country since the warlords were always bounty hunters and as good as highway robbers.

                It is safer than Iraq.
                Last edited by Ray; 13 Mar 05,, 20:20.


                "Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

                I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

                HAKUNA MATATA

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Confed999
                  Wasn't this stuff happening before the war too, even in the same places?
                  Yes, but I had thought it was safer, after the war, for woman and children.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Julie
                    Yes, but I had thought it was safer, after the war, for woman and children.
                    I understand. Safer in some respects, but not all. Just remember, though we should allways do more in the short term, it will take many years to to form even a stable political structure, let alone take care that the people have the ability to meet their needs.
                    No man is free until all men are free - John Hossack
                    I agree completely with this Administration’s goal of a regime change in Iraq-John Kerry
                    even if that enforcement is mostly at the hands of the United States, a right we retain even if the Security Council fails to act-John Kerry
                    He may even miscalculate and slide these weapons off to terrorist groups to invite them to be a surrogate to use them against the United States. It’s the miscalculation that poses the greatest threat-John Kerry

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Confed999
                      I understand. Safer in some respects, but not all. Just remember, though we should allways do more in the short term, it will take many years to to form even a stable political structure, let alone take care that the people have the ability to meet their needs.
                      Yes, but if these pledges would "pay-up," it would create jobs in Afghanistan and speed up the construction process.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Julie
                        Yes, but if these pledges would "pay-up," it would create jobs in Afghanistan and speed up the construction process.
                        Yes Ma'am, I agree.
                        No man is free until all men are free - John Hossack
                        I agree completely with this Administration’s goal of a regime change in Iraq-John Kerry
                        even if that enforcement is mostly at the hands of the United States, a right we retain even if the Security Council fails to act-John Kerry
                        He may even miscalculate and slide these weapons off to terrorist groups to invite them to be a surrogate to use them against the United States. It’s the miscalculation that poses the greatest threat-John Kerry

                        Comment

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