US to spend $4.4b on development

The United States of America announced it would spend $4.4 billion on the development of war torn Afghanistan.

KABUL: The United States of America on Thursday announced it would spend $4.4 billion on the development of war torn Afghanistan with special emphasis on boosting agriculture sector before the start of the planned troop withdrawal.

The civil infrastructure of the country is either in bad shape or entirely non-existent and needs to be developed to serve as a sound footing for the economic revival and to avoid any further damage, said Director of Communication and Public Diplomacy US Embassy Kabul David Ensor while briefing a group of newsmen from Pakistan.

Press Attache of the US Embassy in Afghanistan John R Gorch was also present at the briefing.

During the current financial year the base funding for development was $2.6 billion while an additional grant of $1.8 billion was later awarded by the US Congress as “supplemental”, David said.

John R Gorch said that ways and means are being explored to offer an alternative crop to the poppy growers to offer a lawful source of earning.

Quoting an example, he said that the pomegrenate industry is being expanded with the aim of selling the fruit in the international market for comparatively better financial returns. To serve this purpose a US-Afghanistan-Pakistan trilateral group is being formed and efforts are already in hand to finalize Pakistan-Afghanistan Transit Trade agreement.

“A secure Afghanistan is not necessary for the region but especially for Pakistan,” he said.

Answering a question John said that the southern part of Afghanistan, along the Pakistan border, is being preferred for undertaking vigorous development and introducing better sources of earning.

Narrating other goals of development, he said that the expansion and
improvement of road infrastructure, increasing national supplies and the availability of electrical energy, increasing access to and delivery of safe drinking water and sanitation services and expanding water for irrigation agriculture are all on the agenda.

He said that another major challenge in the country is to achieve counternarcotics goals. These include, reducing opium cultivation by linking agriculture assistance and incentive programs that facilitate the transition from opium to licit crops; identifying, investigating, disrupting and dismantling significant drug trafficking networks fueling the insurgency; and
supporting drug treatment facilities.

Health, education, law and justice, border management, good governance, democracy and law enforcement capacity building are other sectors where the funding would be utilized, he added.

David told a questioner that the mobile phone industry and media and communications have flourished manifold in the recent past reflecting a start to a better standard of living.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 6^th, 2010.