To enjoy development, peace, democracy, good governance and modern advancements, the post-conflict nations have to try harder than those who have lived in a stable and peaceful environment and who have not suffered long standing clashes and devastating wars. Emerging out of the long-running war, multifaceted disputes and terrorism, Afghanistan is, at present, hugely dependent on foreign aides to run its administrations and provide basic services for people.
Foreign aid plays a critical role in achieving Afghanistan's development, poverty reduction, and economic growth objectives. The country's entire development budget and a huge portion of operating expenditures are being financed by foreign assistance, mainly poured in by the United States of America, Japan, World Bank and other partners.
No doubt, billions of dollars were poured into the country to run reconstruction projects and help Afghanistan to acquire enough capacity to lead the way on its own. The burning question is not how much money has been spent in Afghanistan but how it is spent.
Since the very first years following emergence of the new democratic system here, Afghan government has been struggling to channel more funds through government budget. The Donors have, to some extent, abided by the request and have increased spending funds through national budget.
The level of discretionary funds aside, there has been a troublesome accusation and counteraccusation trend preventing effective use of aids. Corruption is acknowledged publically but neither the government nor the international partners have willed to undertake the responsibility and embark on fighting the evil of corruption. Making an apparent acknowledgement of high level corruption in his administration, president Karzai has mostly attributed bulk of it to the foreign aid organizations and donor agencies that run large-size projects.
On the other side, the US officials have acknowledged that too much U.S. aid has been lost through bloated contracts—often to American companies. But will the US acknowledgment on their side, justify inadequacy on the side of Afghan government.
It is clear that the government has mostly complained of insufficient funds to accomplish vital reconstruction projects and improve institutional performing. However, the figures show a contradiction. Afghan government institutions have lacked the required capacity and necessary commitment and determination to spend the money given to them.
They have even failed to safely and regularly transfer payments for wages and salaries, the easiest spending case of budgeted funds. All these aside, they know how to make contradictory and annoying excuses for the big shortfalls in government ministries.
The recent figures on national development budget expenses indicated as low as 33%. In view of that, the total development budget execution will not reach 50% by end of this year. Notwithstanding, the government ministries have always asked for more money instead of improving execution rate and institutional capacity to optimize available funds.