Donor governments must renew and increase
long-term commitment if recovery process is to succeed
Friday 27 January, 2006 - Afghanistan's
future stability could be jeopardized without sustained and increased commitment
from the international community, a group of British and Irish aid agencies
warned today ahead of a major donor conference in London on Tuesday.
The British and Irish Agencies Afghanistan Group (BAAG) urged the international community to support the Afghan Government's five-year development plan being presented at the Afghanistan Donor Conference.
Reports that some donors, including the US and the European Commission Department for Humanitarian Assistance, are considering a reduction in aid funding are of serious concern. BAAG members also believe that more funding should be directed to frontline humanitarian assistance for the poorest Afghan citizens. In the current fragile situation, many of those worst affected are living in areas beyond the government's reach and its capacity to provide for them.
'This is a make or break moment for Afghanistan' said Howard Mollett, Humanitarian Aid Advisor for CARE International. 'Afghanistan remains one of the poorest countries in the world. The increasing challenges of security and the opium economy are highly complex and need comprehensive and long-term responses. That's why donors must renew their commitment to Afghanistan now.'
Donor countries and international financial institutions will be meeting at the conference where the Afghan Government will present its five-year Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS). It will push for donors to back the plan and sign an 'Afghanistan Compact', committing both sides to deliver on benchmarks across the most pressing issues facing the country:
- Security,
- governance and the rule of law,
- human rights,
- sustainable economic and social development,
- and counter narcotics.
'In post-conflict countries, the fifth year of peace is often the most fragile and yet this is precisely the time - five years after the fall of the Taleban - that the international community risks turning its back on Afghanistan,' said Abdul Basir, Project Manager of BAAG. 'While stabilising security and building the state are clearly priorities, donors must not neglect frontline assistance to the poorest people in Afghanistan. A decline in political or financial commitment hits them hardest. Donors must not let Afghanistan fall into the 'forgotten emergency' category again.'
Notes to editors:
Despite some progress in Afghanistan, the country remains fragile. And whilst there has been some economic recovery, inequality is a major problem, with the poorest 30 per cent of the population receiving only nine per cent of national income. Afghanistan falls at the bottom of the 2005 Human Development Report, coming in at 172 of 177 countries. One out of five children dies before the age of five.
1. BAAG is the umbrella organisation
for British and Irish non-governmental aid agencies working in Afghanistan.
For more information please visit: www.baag.org.uk
2. This press release may not represent the views of all BAAG member agencies.