I've touched before on the UK Department for International Development's role in Afghanistan. Yesterday's Times ran an interesting article by Anthony Loyd on Britain's aid effort to date in Helmand, southern Afghanistan. Much of the aid Britain has squirted at the Afghans has gone, in Loyd's words, in "bungs, bribes and embezzlement". Given these inescapable facts of Afghan life, Britain's strategy of providing the security to enable the Afghans to resume business on their own terms, seems a better use of money.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
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Security, corruption and education were the three big problems described to me by Afghans in Kabul when I was there several months ago. They also felt that much of the aid was wasted and often went back to the donor nations rather than to the Afghans, what with employment of the donor nations' citizens to administer the projects.
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