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Afghanistan
>> Regional Overview >> Afghanistan Overview
Last updated: 25
THE DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGE: The terrorist attacks on September 11th and U.S. military actions in Afghanistan have placed that country at or near the top of the U.S. foreign policy agenda. Decades of conflict, years of severe drought, governmental mismanagement, and the related loss of livelihoods and educational opportunities for the Afghan people, especially women and girls, have created a humanitarian and development crisis in Afghanistan. Estimates suggest that over 50% of the population live in absolute poverty, with average life expectancy only 46 years. Afghans experience exceptionally high levels of malnutrition and maternal and child mortality, and up to 7.5 million Afghans are estimated to be dependent on external food aid. Unemployment is 50% or higher, and the illiteracy rate is as high as 70%. With virtually all key institutions destroyed, the recovery and reconstruction of Afghanistan will require a concerted and financially significant, multiyear, national and multidonor effort.
Speaking at the January 21 donors' conference in Tokyo, Secretary Powell outlined U.S. development goals for Afghanistan, emphasizing "high-impact projects that quickly create jobs, generate income, get money flowing through the economy again, rebuild critical infrastructure, and encourage the successful return of the millions of refugees and internally displaced persons." Turning to the longer term, he said, "key among the U.S. goals are helping to restore the agricultural sector, the heart of the Afghan economy. There must be agricultural alternatives to poppy cultivation in order to prevent drug processing and trafficking. We have to rebuild the education and health systems, both of which are devastated from decades of war and oppression. We must provide rehabilitative care and vocational training for Afghanistan's millions of disabled citizens."
Other pressing development needs in Afghanistan include rebuilding food security—both the availability of food and people’s access to it; meeting basic health needs; renewing educational opportunities, especially for girls, the disabled, and demobilized combatants; and bolstering the creation of institutions of political and economic governance.
Grain production is Afghanistan's traditional agricultural mainstay. Wheat, dried fruit, nuts, and livestock products are the traditional exports of this mainly rural country. Overall agricultural production declined dramatically following three years of drought as well as the sustained fighting, instability in rural areas, and deteriorated infrastructure. Soviet efforts to disrupt production in resistance-dominated areas also contributed to this decline, as did the disruption to transportation resulting from ongoing conflict. The war against the Soviet Union in the 1980s and the ensuing civil war in the 1990s also led to migration to the cities and refugee flight to Pakistan and Iran, further disrupting normal agricultural production. Recent studies indicate that agricultural production and livestock are only sufficient to feed about half of Afghanistan's population. Urban shortages are exacerbated by the deterioration of the already limited road network, resulting from war and the absence of government-financed maintenance. Afghanistan has the capacity to recover its agricultural productivity, provided that the drought breaks and market structures emerge. Despite 20 years of conflict, the remains of an agricultural extension service exist; technical specialists are available; and private sector-led marketing of inputs and crops has been carried out.
THE USAID PROGRAM: USAID plans to spend $12,000,000 DA and $17,250,000 ESF in FY 2002, and is requesting an amount yet to be determined in FY 2003. Over the last year, the United States has provided over $300 million in emergency food and humanitarian assistance. It is now time to move quickly to create jobs and start rebuilding Afghanistan's agricultural sector, its healthcare system, and its educational system. As part of these efforts, the United States has begun immediately to print and distribute nearly ten million textbooks in Dari and Pashtu and to work with UNICEF to vaccinate 2.2 million Afghan children against measles.
USAID has developed a program designed both to make a quick impact and to lay the foundation for continued assistance. The program will permit the United States to move beyond the immediate needs for relief assistance by introducing reconstruction programs in the key development sectors of agriculture, education, health, and democracy. By focusing the program on these key areas, USAID can ensure funds are spent on their most productive uses rather than being spread too thinly.
Education and health are closely related problems in Afghanistan. The human development statistics are staggering: Afghans rank among the least healthy people in the world. Life expectancy is 44 years for women and 43 years for men. Women in Afghanistan are more than 200 times more likely to die in childbirth than women in the United States. In fact, last year far more women died in childbirth than men, women, and children died as a result of war and conflict. Severe malnutrition makes people more vulnerable to disease and death. Underlying causes include war and conflict, and the low status of women. Food insecurity contributes to the wide prevalence of infectious disease as well, due to limited potable water and poor sanitation.
International attention has already been drawn to the dire state of education in Afghanistan. The symbolic and physical importance of formal schooling is important. Given the paucity of available textbooks and supplies, and the lack of trained personnel, International Disaster Assistance has already been directed for the printing and dissemination of materials to government, home, and community schools, the provision of essential classroom supplies, and the recruitment and training of teachers. Educational texts and supplies need to be available at the start of the new school year.
Women are key to successful reconstruction in Afghanistan. USAID will prioritize the participation of women in the health and education sectors. Carefully designed and implemented programs can draw women into civil society and employment through the healthcare and school systems. In the longer run, this will promote local involvement to identify and respond to community needs. Both the health situation of Afghans and the capacity for response have been profoundly affected by a history of severe and systematic discrimination against women. Over time, this has produced a generation with limited education, widespread poverty, and high fertility, with which the rudimentary health system is poorly equipped to deal.
OTHER PROGRAM ELEMENTS: In FY 2002, USAID has budgeted $50 million in International Disaster Assistance (IDA) funds for agriculture rehabilitation, livelihoods and income generation, improving health and creating incentives for stability. Approximately $6 million in OTI funds will be used for media activity grants and counter-narcotics activities. The amount of $77 million in P.L. 480 Title II food is being used to address immediate food shortages and areas of chronic hunger. It will also be used to re-establish the shattered lives of Afghans through the rebuilding of critical systems: agriculture, education, health & welfare, infrastructure, and employment. All these activities have the broader effect of stabilizing the country through close collaboration with national, district and community authorities. Roughly $52.6 million in Migration and Refugee Assistance funds will be used to support the repatriation of Afghan refugees currently in Pakistan and Iran and to support large numbers of returning refugees and internally displaced persons through community-based health, education, shelter and water and sanitation projects. The amount of $17.25 million in Economic Support Funds will be used for short-term, high-impact projects in the political or security sectors. Approximately $15 million in INL funds will be applied to counter-narcotics programs, law enforcement training, development of a criminal code, and de-mining. USDA will provide $44.9 million of 416(b) food for relief and recovery activities.
OTHER DONORS: At the January 2002 Donors’ conference in Japan, 61 countries pledged over $1.8 billion in development aid for immediate Afghan reconstruction. In addition to the United States, the biggest donors will be Japan, Saudi Arabia, the 12 European Union (EU) member states and the EU commission, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Turkey, Iran, China, India, and Pakistan.
Program Data Sheets
- 306-001 Reestablish Food Security
- 306-002 Create Conditions for Stability
- 306-003 Rehabilitate Afghanistan as a Nation-State
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Last Updated on: May 29, 2002 |
