Afghan aid pledges 10 billion dollars short: report

[tuvor]

Source: AFP

KABUL (AFP) - Western countries have failed to deliver 10 billion dollars' in promised aid to Afghanistan, undermining prospects for peace that depend on development, according to a report released Tuesday.

About 40 percent of the aid that does arrive returns to rich countries in corporate profits and high consultant costs, according to the Agency Coordinating Body For Afghan Relief (ACBAR) report.

The funds going towards reconstruction are, meanwhile, just "a fraction" of military expenditure, with 25 billion dollars spent on security-related assistance, such as building the Afghan security force, since 2001.

The US military spends about a 100 million dollars a day in Afghanistan, while the average volume of international aid from all donors since 2001 is just seven million dollars a day, the ACBAR document "Falling Short" says.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080324/wl_asia_afp/afghanistanunrestaid

[happygoluckytoyou]

1. SORRY ABOUT THE BOUNCED CHECK... WE'RE OUT OF $$$$

[gratuitous]

2. It's always easier to spend more on guns than butter

As addicted as our country is to violence, and as enthusiastic as we are to spreading the Gospel of Redemptive Violence, it should not be surprising in the least that spending to blow things up outstrips spending to put them back together by 14-1.