By Jon Hemming
KABUL (Reuters) - Peace in Afghanistan is undermined byWestern nations' failure to deliver promised aid and 40 percentof funds that do reach the country return to the West inprofits and salaries, aid agencies said on Tuesday.
Afghanistan relies on international aid for 90 percent ofits spending as it tries to rebuild state institutionsshattered by nearly 30 years of war and at the same time fightoff a renewed Taliban insurgency that killed 6,000 people lastyear.
Foreign spending on aid and development is dwarfed by thatspent on international military operations in Afghanistan.
The U.S. military alone now spends some $100 million a dayfighting Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, but spending on aidby all donors since 2001 amounts to only $7 million (3.5million pounds) a day.
"Given the links between development and security, theeffectiveness of aid also has a major impact on peace andstability," the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief(ACBAR) said in a report.
"Yet thus far aid has been insufficient and in many caseswasteful and ineffective," said ACBAR, an umbrella group fornon-governmental organizations working in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan received just $57 per capita in aid in the twoyears after international intervention, compared to $679 a headin Bosnia and $233 in East Timor, it said.
The international community has pledged to spend some $25billion on reconstruction and development in Afghanistan.
But, the report said, "just $15 billion in aid has so farbeen spent, of which it is estimated a staggering 40 percenthas returned to donor countries in corporate profits andsalaries."
While there are problems delivering development toAfghanistan due to poor security, government corruption and theability of the country to absorb aid, major donors have fallenfar behind on their pledges, ACBAR said.
The United States, by far the biggest donor, has paid outonly half of the $10 billion it committed in aid to Afghanistanfor the period 2002-2008, the Asia Development Bank and Indiaonly a third of their pledged assistance for the same period.
Two-thirds of international assistance to Afghanistanbypasses the Afghan government, undermining the rebuilding ofits state institutions, the report said. International donorsalso do not coordinate well among themselves and with theAfghan government on where their money goes.
"The Afghan government says it does not have information onhow one-third of all assistance since 2001 was spent -- some $5billion," the report said.
ACBAR called on donors to increase spending on developmentand humanitarian aid in Afghanistan, fulfil their pledges ofaid, coordinate spending more effectively and channel morefunds through the Afghan government.
(Editing by Jon Boyle)
