October 4, 2019
The report says that an additional $5.2 billion in economic and social development funds may be required to sustain a potential Afghan political settlement.
The US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan, in a report released on Oct. 30, says the United States has provided up to $132 billion for reconstruction and related activities in Afghanistan since 2002 but it mentions that Afghanistan’s national revenue has been low.
The report specified the allocations:
- $82.55 billion for security (including $4.57 billion for counter-narcotics initiatives)
- $34.46 billion for governance and development (including $4.37 billion for counter-narcotics initiatives)
- $3.85 billion for humanitarian aid
- $11.70 billion for civilian operations
The amount provided to the nine largest active US funds accounts for more than 86.1% (nearly $114.17 billion) of total reconstruction assistance in Afghanistan since 2002. Of this amount, over 92.9% (nearly $106.11 billion) has been promised, and nearly 89.2% (nearly $101.80 billion) has been disbursed.
An estimated $5.8 billion of this amount of appropriated funds has expired and will therefore not be disbursed.
The report says that Afghanistan’s gross domestic product contracted by 0.2% in 2018, including opium-poppy cultivation, according to the country’s statistical authority.
According to the report, Afghan government revenues grew by just 3.2% over the first eight months of the fiscal year 1398 (December 22, 2018–December 21, 2019), year-on-year.
Meanwhile, the report says that an additional $5.2 billion in economic and social development funds may be required to sustain a potential Afghan political settlement, the World Bank said in a draft plan.
But the Ministry of Finance said the national revenue is Afs9 billion ($114 million) this year and that the government has achieved its goal in national revenues.
“We had a Afs10 billion increase this year and we earned a Afs160 billion so far and we will achieve our goal by the end of the year,” said Shamroz Khan Masjidi, a spokesman for the Ministry of Finance.
Critics said the international community’s aid over the past 18 years has not been spent through a transparent process.
“Our politicians have failed to use the US funds, and, at the same time, the US did not want to give the authority of spending some of the fund on big projects,” political analyst Naqibullah Hashemi said.
Source: ToloNews.
