Monday, December 5, 2011

Foreign Policy and I

Karzai: Afghanistan will need $10 billion a year, but that’s a bargain

At an international conference in Bonn, Germany, Afghan President Hamid Karzai unveiled the price tag for keeping Afghanistan stable and out of insurgent hands once NATO departs in 2014.
By Howard LaFranchi, Staff writer / December 5, 2011
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, center, meets with delegates from an Afghan women's civil society during an international conference on the future of Afghanistan, in Bonn, Germany.
J. Scott Applewhite,/AP
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Washington
Americans and other Westerners experiencing donor fatigue and facing steep budget cuts at home might have groaned upon hearing Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Monday as he unveiled the price tag for keeping his war-torn country stable and out of insurgent hands.
Speaking to an international conference in Bonn, Germany, about Afghanistan after international forces depart in 2014, Mr. Karzai said his country will require $10 billion a year in outside assistance for at least a decade: to maintain the new army and police forces and to keep the government functioning.
Karzai acknowledged to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other international and regional leaders that the cost might sound high, but like a good salesman, he also pointed out that the price is actually a bargain.
With the international community (primarily the United States) currently spending about $140 billion a year on Afghanistan military operations, a whole decade of assistance following NATO’s departure would cost less than one year of current spending.
“We will need your steadfast support for at least a decade” after 2014, Karzai told the gathering, which included Iran’s foreign minister but not Pakistan’s. That neighboring country, officials and others say, will be crucial in determining Afghanistan’s stability and success in battling a stubborn insurgency.
The Afghan leader reminded international leaders why they had committed so much “blood and treasure” to his country in the first place and why a commitment well into the future was in everyone’s interest.
“Together we have spent blood and treasure in fighting terrorism,” Karzai said. “Your continued solidarity, your commitment and support will be crucial so that we can consolidate our gains and continue to address the challenges that remain.”
The $10 billion in annual assistance that Karzai envisions is less than the nearly $16 billion in aid that the government reports receiving this year. The government offered a sobering fact about current aid, saying that foreign assistance makes up better than 90 percent of public spending.
Pakistan decided to snub the conference in protest of NATO airstrikes on a border outpost late last month that killed two dozen Pakistani soldiers. Both Secretary Clinton and President Obama pleaded with their Pakistani counterparts to reverse their boycott of the conference – Mr. Obama on Sunday called President Asif Ali Zardari to offer his condolences over the deaths – but no Pakistani officials joined the Bonn gathering.
“It was unfortunate that they did not participate,” Clinton told a press conference. “I expect that Pakistan will be involved going forward, and we expect them to play a constructive role.”
The attendance of Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi made for a rare occurrence on the global diplomatic circuit – the appearance of an American and an Iranian senior official in the same room at the same time.
The conference took place a decade after another international gathering, also in the former West German capital, which came after the deposing of the Taliban by international forces following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. That gathering set up Afghanistan’s interim government.
This week’s conference, which assembled more than 1,000 participants from 100 countries, was once envisaged as a grand affair that would mark Afghanistan’s secure transition to self-governance and stability. But the continuing resilience of the country’s insurgency and the government’s overall weakness, not to mention the no-show by a crucial player like Pakistan, all played a part in paring back on the conference goals.
At one point it was even hoped that representatives of more-moderate factions of the Afghan Taliban might attend as evidence of an up-and-running reconciliation process. But no such process exists, and so no Taliban or other insurgent representatives attended.
Afghan officials did commit to tackling the country’s grave corruption problems in exchange for continued international assistance. US and other aid donors have complained for years that much of the billions in assistance flowing into Afghanistan falls into the hands of corrupt officials and even into the pockets of the forces that the international coalition is fighting.
In one sign that progress against corruption is indeed possible, Clinton announced that the US is freeing up more than $650 million in assistance for local community-development projects. The money had been frozen over rampant financial irregularities, but the State Department said a series of reforms to the country’s financial and oversight systems boosted confidence that the money will go where it is intended.
RELATED: Afghanistan's Bonn conference: 4 things you need to know
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  • My Salam  to Special K.Get rid of this US puppet, Hamid Karzai, before he takes a US patent on Corruption.Democrats are known for their patented medicine, Oops, not prescription variety but of the over the counter, (preferably made in India and marketed (illegally) from Canada. A North American evil twin of Uncle Sam.
    "Tax and Spend" Democrats, while they are, still, in the White House power seat, may throw the money (they ain't got) over such idiotic notion that this Tribal, (PUSHtoon cartoon character) medicine man is capable of an mission impossible, to be an exorcist celebrity in wiping out what his country is made of.
    Moral corruption. religious fundamentalism, administrative chaos, winner takes all, political philosophy and rabid, Oops, rancid jingoism, overly opportunism, soldier of fortunism, a man with least credibility and ability to devour all that compassion among the rich and famous crowd of the world.
    Give him a "swift kick in his pants." Sooner the better. Before more (unlimited) money starts flowing to this medieval mindset wilderness, aka Afghanistan.
    May Allah be praised, (PBUH).
    "assalam aleikum. Inshallah."
    ...and I am Sid Harth@arabuhuru.org
  • Special K, Older and, at times, wiser
    The following item suggests the need for progress on more than one front in Afghanistan. Unfortunately $10 million won't change a culture!Reference: L.A.
    Times report, "Jailed Afghan rape victim wins pardon after agreeing
    to marry attacker"(complete text appended);also reported in the Times of Trenton,
    December 3, 2001, A7, with a slightly modified header.Good for Karzai!
    Whether she says ?Yes? or whether she says ?No!!?  doesn't matter.
    In old Afghanistan any old fellow she chances upon can have at her. So agrees Karzai,
    but he says she can get out of prison--where she dwells for "moral turpitude"-- having been taken forcibly by a ruffian, crude; and subsequently giving birth as a result during her prison interlude.
    What a guy, this Karzai, on whose "enlightened" benevolence she et al. must rely!
    That such a man and medieval society--among several similar of each- in the general vicinity--still are present in the world today strains credulity Still, realistically we must acknowledge their presence, albeit not without voicing astonishment, regret and dismay.
    Hope for change? As John Wayne would have said "That'll be the day!" As the old saw has it: Spit in one hand, wish in the other, and see which fills up faster. Chauvinistically put: Whatever its many flaws, "western civilization" as we have come to know it,  is something for which we, and the rest of the world, justifiably can be grateful. Too bad it can't be bottled for consumption in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria and elsewhere in the middle east, to give a few relevant examples..
    Appendix:  Text of referenced news report ....
    The 19-year-old woman, whose name is Gulnaz, was one
    of the subjects of a documentary recently produced by the European Union,
    highlighting the phenomenon of rape victims being imprisoned for the
    "moral crime" of having sex outside marriage, even against their will.
    Karzai's office said in a statement Thursday evening that the president had accepted a recommendation from a special judicial committee that the woman be pardoned and freed -- "taking into consideration the consent of both sides for a conditional wedlock."
    Gulnaz became pregnant as a result of the rape and gave birth in prison.
    Hundreds of Afghan women are serving jail sentences in similar circumstances. But the documentary coverage of Gulnaz's case sparked a petition drive seeking her freedom, and as a result, judicial authorities reexamined her case.
    The European Union said in a statement that it welcomed her release.
    Reflecting the sensitivity of the issue, however, the EU had decided earlier not to release the documentary, citing concerns over danger to the women, even though those who were profiled had given the filmmakers permission to use their names.
    The film was shown to news organizations and human rights groups, however.
    The pardon came ahead of an international summit on Afghanistan to be held in Bonn, Germany, beginning this weekend. Women's activists are using the gathering as a forum
    for speaking out about fears of renewed repression in the country after the Western combat mission ends in the next two years.
  • cecilsealy
    LET THE CHINESE,INDIA AND RUSSIA FINANCE THE STABILIZATION OF THAT COUNTRY AFTER ALL ITS IN THEIR BACKYARD. LET THAT COUNTRY GROW THE POPPY PLANT FOR MEDICINAL DIRECTED EXPORT,ITS WHAT THEY DO BEST.GET KARZAI A NEW JOB WITH THE ARAB LEAGUE.
  • rtwingal
    $9 billion to the drug dealers, the other billion to his friends. What do we get in return? Middle finger, right hand.
  • nickdangerthirdi
    how about Karzi become a leader, and build an economy so his government can make up that 10B a year on his own...  if he cant, then they need someone who can.
  • crowsnesteh
    *I trust that some of those dollars will go to training Midwives.
    * Education .  Especially on the dangers of children giving birth to babies * Nutritional  supplements like Vitamins/ Iron/ Calcium for pregnant women.* Safe and secure play areas for the children. The average person can reach out to the Afghan people by spending $10.00 a month to sponsor a student either  through the Afghan-Canadian Community Center http://www.theafghanschool.org...  or google for an NGO of your country that is in Afghanistan with a focus on Human Rights.  Women's Rights ( why we have a different category from Human Rights eludes me ) ( culture and tradition come to mind) .   Education .
  • Wasn't Karzai threatening to side with Pakistan in a conflict with the US a few weeks ago?  Maybe he needs $10b worth of predator drones a year.
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