ID :
9868
Thu, 06/12/2008 - 18:01
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/9868
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Australia gives $250m to Afghanistan
Canberra, June 12 (AAP) - Australia will provide another $250 million to help rebuild Afghanistan but has no plans to send more troops to the war-torn nation.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith announced Canberra's decision to spend $250 million over three years to help Afghans govern themselves ahead of a donors' conference beginning in Paris on Thursday.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai is expected to ask up to 80 donor nations for more than $50 billion over five years to help his violence-plagued homeland rebuild from the destruction caused by years of fighting between coalition forces and the Taliban.
But donors may be reluctant to part with their cash, questioning Mr Karzai's ability to deal with problems like the drug trade, corruption and the Taliban.
The United States is expected to donate more than $10 billion but few other countries will be able or willing to dig so deep.
Australia's contribution takes to $700 million the amount of aid it has given to Afghanistan since 2001, when coalition forces took on the Taliban in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
Canberra is focusing on how the aid can be used to help Afghanistan govern itself and the Afghan government will release a five-year development strategy at the conference.
"What we want the $250 million to be used for is to help build Afghanistan's capacity to govern its own affairs and to build its capacity to look after its own people," Mr Smith told ABC Radio.
"Agricultural scholarships is one thing, police training another, also humanitarian assistance, food, clearance of land mines -the array of things needed to get Afghanistan into a position where it can manage its own affairs and provide decent services for its own people."
Mr Smith, who visited Australian troops in Afghanistan in the past week, said things were improving - but off a very low base.
Australia is the biggest non-NATO contributor to the military effort in Afghanistan, where it has more than 1,000 troops in the south of the country.
"No one is under any illusions that this is going to be a long hard struggle, there's no doubt," Mr Smith said. "The international community, just as Australia does, wants to see progress. We want to see progress in governance issues, we want to see progress against
narcotics, and we want to see progress in terms of capacity of the Afghan government to deliver basic services for its people."
But he reiterated Australia had no immediate plans to bolster troop numbers.
"We're not proposing to increase that level of military or combat contribution," Mr Smith said.
One of the issues to get an airing at the Paris conference will be ways to combat the drug trade in Afghanistan.
At the NATO summit in Bucharest in April, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd pushed for the destruction of the opium crops but failed to win widespread support for conclusive action.
However, there is growing concern that the drug trade is prolonging the Taliban insurgency.
Confidential government documents, leaked in the British media this week, accused Mr Karzai of refusing to take on the drug lords and allowing major players in the Afghan opium trade to take up senior government posts.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith announced Canberra's decision to spend $250 million over three years to help Afghans govern themselves ahead of a donors' conference beginning in Paris on Thursday.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai is expected to ask up to 80 donor nations for more than $50 billion over five years to help his violence-plagued homeland rebuild from the destruction caused by years of fighting between coalition forces and the Taliban.
But donors may be reluctant to part with their cash, questioning Mr Karzai's ability to deal with problems like the drug trade, corruption and the Taliban.
The United States is expected to donate more than $10 billion but few other countries will be able or willing to dig so deep.
Australia's contribution takes to $700 million the amount of aid it has given to Afghanistan since 2001, when coalition forces took on the Taliban in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
Canberra is focusing on how the aid can be used to help Afghanistan govern itself and the Afghan government will release a five-year development strategy at the conference.
"What we want the $250 million to be used for is to help build Afghanistan's capacity to govern its own affairs and to build its capacity to look after its own people," Mr Smith told ABC Radio.
"Agricultural scholarships is one thing, police training another, also humanitarian assistance, food, clearance of land mines -the array of things needed to get Afghanistan into a position where it can manage its own affairs and provide decent services for its own people."
Mr Smith, who visited Australian troops in Afghanistan in the past week, said things were improving - but off a very low base.
Australia is the biggest non-NATO contributor to the military effort in Afghanistan, where it has more than 1,000 troops in the south of the country.
"No one is under any illusions that this is going to be a long hard struggle, there's no doubt," Mr Smith said. "The international community, just as Australia does, wants to see progress. We want to see progress in governance issues, we want to see progress against
narcotics, and we want to see progress in terms of capacity of the Afghan government to deliver basic services for its people."
But he reiterated Australia had no immediate plans to bolster troop numbers.
"We're not proposing to increase that level of military or combat contribution," Mr Smith said.
One of the issues to get an airing at the Paris conference will be ways to combat the drug trade in Afghanistan.
At the NATO summit in Bucharest in April, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd pushed for the destruction of the opium crops but failed to win widespread support for conclusive action.
However, there is growing concern that the drug trade is prolonging the Taliban insurgency.
Confidential government documents, leaked in the British media this week, accused Mr Karzai of refusing to take on the drug lords and allowing major players in the Afghan opium trade to take up senior government posts.
