Here’s a good trivia question: Before Sept. 11, 2001, what country was the largest recipient of American foreign aid?
Give up?
The answer is: Afghanistan.
Today, of course, the United States continues to lead the international community in providing assistance to Afghanistan.
Poverty, famine, a devastating drought, and years of war and civil strife have created a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, which has been aggravated by years of Taleban misrule.
The people of the United States channels support to this troubled country through its official arm of international assistance, the United States Agency for International Development, USAID.
In January this year, United States pledged $297 million in humanitarian and reconstruction aid to help the people of Afghanistan. Since Oct. 1 USAID has provided over $350 million in aid assistance to Afghanistan.
Much of this support has been delivered in the form of food. Since Sept. 11, 2001, the US has provided over 319,000 metric tons of food aid to the people of Afghanistan to avert famine. An additional 46,000 metric tons arrived in Afghanistan last month.
This assistance, valued at $200.7 million, was targeted at the most vulnerable groups totaling some nine million people, including those affected by natural disaster, conflict, returned refugees and internally displaced peoples.
Other USAID assistance has been given to the Afghan people in supplies such as wool blankets and quilts, shelter kits, plastic sheeting and winterized tents. USAID also distributed mattresses, clothes, stoves, cooking sets, firewood, coal, lanterns and water containers. This non-food aid totaled over $22.5 million.
Healthcare is perhaps the most significant assistance offered by USAID. The agency has provided medical kits and funds for health centers and mobile clinics. Additionally, the Afghan people have received public health education and have been provided programs on hygiene, obstetrics, maternal childcare, and malnutrition.
Essential healthcare support provided by USAID includes employing trained personnel to conduct educational outreach on basic health and nutrition, especially to women. These programs help expectant mothers, trained local birth attendants and funded the distribution of vitamins and the immunization of young children. Healthcare aid totaled over $10.4 million.
American assistance to the Afghan people is also being delivered in untraditional ways: Aid agencies have airlifted commodities from Pakistan and Italy to ensure there was no break in the Central Asian pipelines into Afghanistan. They have also funded the purchase of vehicles — some equipped with snowplows — to speed the delivery of supplies into villages.
Additionally, through the International Organization for Migration, USAID has distributed over 30,000 radios that allow Afghans to hear special broadcast bulletins concerning food distribution, security, health care and other information relevant to displaced people.
Today, with Afghanistan enjoying relative stability, USAID is now focusing its attention on the country’s rehabilitation: It has begun small-scale spot reconstruction, providing materials to rehabilitate damaged housing for returning displaced persons.
USAID is also providing funds to upgrade and rebuild roads; repair and reconstruct bridges; dig wells; and construct and repair irrigation and water-supply systems.
US-supported efforts to reconstruct Afghanistan’s transportation system took a special significance last month when Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai and US Ambassador Robert P. Finn officiated a ground breaking ceremony to mark the first day of construction of Afghanistan’s main highway, known as Highway 1, from Kabul to Kandahar to Herat.
Reconstruction of the more than 1,000-km highway will take an estimated 36 months to complete and will employ thousands of Afghans. The project will cost an estimated $250 million; $180 million has been pledged to date from the United States, Japan and Saudi Arabia.
Reconstruction of the country’s principal road system is a collaborative effort between the Islamic Transitional Government of Afghanistan, the United States, Japan, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Japanese government is expected to contribute $50 million and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has pledged an additional $50 million.
(Send questions and comments to: [email protected])
Arab News Features 26 December 2002
