After the fall of Taliban in 2001, the developments made in Afghanistan, are undoubtedly spectacular. But one man, who is a key stakeholder in the efforts, is not much happy with the achievements of the US-funded development projects implemented in Afghanistan over last fourteen years. John Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan’s Reconstruction (SIGAR), argues that billions of the international aid spent in Afghanistan have been wasted in some or other ways. When asked about the reason, he pointed out to the widespread and large-scale corruption that exists in Afghanistan. He also questioned sustainability of the projects. “We built projects that they [Afghans] can’t afford.” he argued, in an interview with Al-Jazeera.
After the fall of Taliban, a huge amount of about $110 billion of generous aid fund provided by the USAID, UKAID and the rest of the international community were funneled into Afghanistan. The aid so far provided for Afghanistan is slightly more than the Marshall Plan fund. The Marshall Plan fund, organized and distributed by the United States government in the edge of Cold War, successfully rebuilt war-torn and devastated Europe. In contrast, the $110 billion, which is more than the Marshall Plan, has failed to rebuild the war-torn Afghanistan. Perhaps, John Sopko’s statement has a point here. Huge deal of corruption, lack of transparency and irrational investments are said to be the causes of this failure. Therefore, we might not be wrong to raise the question whether the funds really reached to the people of Afghanistan?
Regretfully, based on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index of 2014, Afghanistan ranks one of the lowest among the world nations. This was Afghanistan’s ranking for 14 consecutive years. Corruption is widespread in education, security and Afghanistan’s bureaucratic sectors. People pay bribe to governmental officials to get their works done. In time of disputes, people, in certain areas, prefer to approach the Taliban instead of filing a lawsuit to the government judicial system. This is primarily due to unendingly slow legal processes as well as corruption. Given this, the widespread corruption has helped the insurgency’s momentum in Afghanistan.
It is emerging that the education sector is one of the areas where there is lots of corruption. The United States and Afghan government boast of the progresses made in education sector. Though based on official estimations the number of school students saw a spectacular leap from 200,000 in 2002 to 8 million students in 2013, the allegedly large-scale corruption in this sector is now obscuring the achievements of the sector. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) claims spending $769 million in Afghanistan’s education sector. But an alarming report by SIGAR recently stated that the Afghan Ministry of Education has issued falsified reports about the number of schools and students to the donors. Sopko argues that despite that funds were disbursed for thousands of schools across Afghanistan, a number of the reported schools were false and most of them do not exist. Now where did these funds for the so-called “ghost schools” vanished? No one knows the answer exactly.
Furthermore, SIGAR argues that when they went looking for a $210 million of 641 million spent on building clinics, they did not exist. The health clinics were to be established to provide health services for Afghan people under the USAID’s Partnership Contracts for the Health Program with the Afghan Ministry of Public Health. Sopko argues that American taxpayers’ money have been wasted for establishments that do not exist.
In addition, $335 million was invested for the Tarakhil Power Plant, located just outside Kabul, to generate electricity for residents of Kabul. It has been reported that the cost of electricity production is excessively expensive than importing electricity from Northern neighbors, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. The power plant even can not produce the amount of electricity it needs to function. “We built an Afghanistan they can’t afford” Sopko stated in an interview with Al-Jazeera. SIGAR reports also point out to another waste: that the Afghan Air Force can not use approximately $500 million worth of airplanes that the U.S. purchased for the Afghan Air Force. As a result, it can be concluded that though the U.S. government has been aware of the scale of the Afghan corruption, it has failed to efficiently control and supervise the investments made in Afghanistan. Afghanistan has barely a GDP of $2 billion while it needs around $8-10 billion dollars to balance the national budget deficit. On the other hand, the donors have been gradually withdrawing from Afghanistan after the coalition troops concluded its combat mission in Afghanistan in December 2014. Given the decline in the international aid, the responsibility of the National Unity Government (NUG) is now much more difficult than before.
The NUG managed to successfully accomplish its key pledge of signing the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) with the United States. The agreement determines that around 10,000 coalition troops will remain in Afghanistan to support and train the Afghan National Army and Police. The government has to immediately and seriously crackdown on corruption. Corruption has become an absolute impediment for national and International donors and investors helping Afghanistan. Corruption has also become a cancer for Afghans, and is contributing in fueling terrorism and insurgency in Afghanistan. A responsible, transparent and accountable government can better fight the rising insurgency in the country. Should the government fight corruption strictly, its popularity would inevitably rise among the people and the international community. The government can establish a helpline for ordinary citizens to report any case of corruption.
In addition to corruption, there are many other key challenges that keep investors away from Afghanistan. The government should tackle insecurity. Foreign investment and donations should be encouraged. The government should provide special security to foreign investors. Industrial Parks and Economic zones should be created and foreign investors should be provided with special security. Partial tax exemption can become another incentive for the foreign firms to invest inside Afghanistan. Given the minimized risks for investors, an economic boom is not inevitable.
The National Unity Government has the responsibility to audit and investigate the past corruptions and pursue corrupt officials in education, health care and other sectors. Success in tackling corruption will help the NUG in gaining trust of international community. Seeing the decline in corruption, people will trust to the government’s credibility and approach the government judiciary system for settling their disputes. Furthermore, less corrupt government agencies will be a major positive incentive for foreign investors. In order to bring about more economic development, the government should provide foreign investors and donors with dedicated and thorough security, transparency, ease in legal and bureaucratic procedures and partial corporation tax exemptions. Establishment of industrial parks and trade zones will boost manufacturing, trade and employment in the country.