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Afghanistan
U.S. Cuts Afghan Development Aid By Half
2014-01-24
[Tolo News] Following news that the U.S. would cut 50 percent of its planned development aid to Afghanistan this year, Chairman of the Afghan Chamber of Commerce & Industries (ACCI) Mohammad Qurban Haqjo on Thursday warned that the consequences for the Afghan economy could be "catastrophic".

The Afghan economy is still heavily reliant on foreign financial aid, and the U.S. remains one of the largest donors. However,
denial ain't just a river in Egypt...
when the White House requested 219 billion USD in development funds for Afghanistan in the annual budget, the U.S. Congress voted to approve only half of that amount.

"The aid reduction could be catastrophic to Afghanistan's economic growth, because the country isn't even able to meet its budget with domestic resources," ACCI Chairman Haqjo said. "So we need the U.S.' long term cooperation and the Afghan government should deal with the matter seriously."

The 50 percent aid reduction is expected to have a drastic effect on development and infrastructural programs.

Some, including Presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah
... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun...
, were quick to point the blame at the current government, and the policies of President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
for the U.S.' belt-tightening.

"The aid reduction will have negative impacts on Afghanistan's economic growth, on administrative affairs, security, and people's lives, unfortunately, these are the outcomes of the personal decisions and policies of the President," Presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah said.

Although the U.S. has seen budget trimming become a common theme in its fiscal policy over a number of years, the most recent cut in Afghan aid is hard to divorce entirely from the rocky relations Kabul and Washington have seen recently.

With President Karzai refusing to sign the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA), which would provide the legal framework for a continued U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, U.S. officials have warned that America's support for Afghanistan is not unconditional. Washington has pushed Karzai to sign the deal, but he has refused citing new preconditions that U.S. officials have shown no interest in meeting.

Last week, tensions flared over a joint U.S.-Afghan forces operation in Ghorband District of Parwan province after a number of non-combatants were killed by an air raid called in to support ground troops pinned down by myrmidons. U.S. officials and many Afghan leaders expressed remorse about the civilian deaths, but said the operation was an overall success, having lead to the deaths and capturing of a large group of bully boys.

Karzai, however, damned the operation, despite it being approved by his own security officials, and drove a larger wedge in relations with Washington.

Whether the U.S. Congress intended the slash in development aid to be a caution to Karzai and other Afghan leaders is up for debate, but either way it will certainly have a major impact on Kabul's plans for the coming year.
Posted by:Fred

#8  Let me see if I have my higher math correct:

* $219 Billion
* Afghan population = 30 million

Divide and you get $7,300 per every man, woman, and child in Afghanistan (just this year). Methinks the greed/graft/corruption angle is spot-on, as that's a LOT more than the average income in Detroit Afghanistan.
Posted by: BA   2014-01-24 21:24  

#7  Oh, the Palestinian model. Right.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2014-01-24 15:08  

#6  P2k, no I think it's more likely that the graft becomes a larger percentage of the total.

Some of the "aid" always gets through but I think that proportion will now approach the vanishing point.
Posted by: AlanC   2014-01-24 11:07  

#5  Are we going to have media images of helicopters leaving Kabul soon? Maybe the MSM can channel Walter Cronkite.
Posted by: JohnQC   2014-01-24 10:34  

#4  "I do think at a certain point youÂ’ve made enough money."

Posted by: Pappy   2014-01-24 10:03  

#3  U.S. Cuts Afghan Development Aid Graft By Half

It's desperately needed on the home front for the election year.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2014-01-24 09:46  

#2  So-called Afghan Development, Obamacare, our domestic economy, and consumer confidence appear to be on parallel spirals.
Posted by: Besoeker   2014-01-24 08:08  

#1  But, but, won't this adversely affect global recreational chemicals supply?!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2014-01-24 07:32  

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