17 March 2003
U.S. Expects to Give Afghanistan $820 Million in Fiscal 2003
(Other world donors also funding assistance efforts, says U.S.
coordinator) (740)
By Stephen Kaufman
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- The United States expects to provide Afghanistan with a
total of $820 million during fiscal year 2003 for developmental,
reconstruction and humanitarian needs. The aid package was announced
by the State Department March 17, the same day a high-level forum was
held in Brussels for international donors to hear Afghan officials
present a budget request to cover their country's developmental
expenses in the coming year.
The members of the Afghan delegation, Foreign Minister Abdullah
Abdullah, Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani, and the ministers for
Reconstruction and for Rural Reconstruction, reported that at the
Brussels meeting they received international commitments covering 90
percent of the $2.25 billion they had requested, according to
Ambassador David Johnson, the U.S. Coordinator for Afghanistan.
Johnson spoke to an audience at the Washington Foreign Press Center
via a digital video conference (DVC) from Brussels on March 17. He
said the generous contributions from the European Union, United
States, Japan, and other donors showed that continued assistance to
Afghanistan "is an endeavor which has broad international support and
broad international participation."
It's not just the United States, he said, but the "world community at
large."
The $820 million figure is a significant increase over the $569
million given by the United States during the 2002 fiscal year. During
fiscal year 2002, said Ambassador Johnson, the Bush Administration had
originally pledged $297 million at the January 2002 donor's conference
in Tokyo, but had subsequently provided 90 percent more than that.
Johnson said a "larger and larger proportion" of the U.S. funds and
resources would be used towards the "long-term reconstruction effort."
However, he also said the United States was "very proud" that it had
played a key role with other donors "in keeping a famine from taking
place in Afghanistan" during the winter of 2001-2002.
When asked about U.S. priorities for the $820 million, Johnson said
the rebuilding and training of the Afghan National Army (ANA) was "the
most resource intensive effort and the most important one that we have
underway."
A well-trained and well-equipped national army will help to provide a
security platform for the many reconstruction and development ventures
needed by the country. The United States, besides training the Afghan
battalions, is also building barracks and supplying the ANA with
operating expenses.
"Without security, there is not going to be reconstruction and a
viable Afghanistan in the long term," said Johnson.
"They are, by any measure, the best trained and equipped and most
disciplined infantry forces in Afghanistan. And we're determined to
see this program through so that there is an army which can protect
Afghanistan," he said.
Another important project is the rebuilding of the highway, which
links the capital Kabul with Qandahar in the south and Herat in the
west. Johnson said that despite what he termed "an engineering
challenge," the United States is determined to complete the Kabul --
Qandahar segment of the road before Afghanistan's general elections in
June 2004.
The United States is contributing $80 million for the highway
construction, while Japan and Saudi Arabia each are contributing $60
million. Johnson said the Afghan government has just concluded its
negotiations with the Saudis for their assistance. He added that Japan
intends to have its construction equipment on the ground in
Afghanistan within one month and to begin construction shortly
thereafter.
When completed, Johnson said the highway will not only benefit
Afghanistan's domestic transportation system, but also will eventually
allow Afghanistan's Central Asian neighbors to move goods to and from
ports on the Indian Ocean "for the first time in modern history."
Fielding questions related to possible U.S. military action against
Iraq, Johnson said U.S. assistance to Afghanistan would not be reduced
because of reconstruction needs for a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq.
President Bush invited Afghan President Hamid Karzai to Washington in
late February "to make precisely the point that we wouldn't forget
Afghanistan," said Johnson. The president assured Karzai that "the
resources would be there, the political engagement would be there,
[and] that our military forces would be there to finish the job which
we have begun," Johnson added.
Johnson reported that European Union Commissioner Chris Patton has
also said that the European states "were indeed with Afghanistan for
the duration."
(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)
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