Rebuilding ravaged Afghanistan

The Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo

How effective is Japan's aid to Afghanistan in helping the nation's people in their struggle to rebuild their ravaged nation?

In the year since the January 2002 International Conference on Reconstruction Assistance to Afghanistan in Tokyo, Japan has provided substantial assistance to war-torn Afghanistan, including a contribution of US$280 million (33.6 billion yen), which is more than was promised for the first year.

In Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, and the key southern city of Kandahar, Japanese aid funds are conspicuously at work repairing schools, medical facilities and key highways.

Japan has also sent policy advisers to help the government of Afghanistan in its administration of national reconstruction and has accepted trainees in government administration from Afghanistan.

Japan supports a broad range of carefully planned projects, including mine-clearing, both for security and to provide jobs. Japan supports programs to help former soldiers return to civilian employment and encourages comprehensive local development programs in cooperation with international agencies and nongovernmental organizations.

The government deserves praise for being seriously committed to continuing aid to Afghanistan that focuses first on humanitarian relief, then on reconstruction, as advocated by Sadako Ogata, the Japanese government representative, through a variety of activities intended to bring about lasting peace.

But some problems have become clear in Japan's assistance. One is that areas far from key cities get only a small amount of Japanese aid.

With remnants of the Taliban and the al-Qaeda terrorist network still active in many places and clashes among regional warlords, Afghanistan is hardly safe. As a result, aid from government-affiliated organizations like the Japan International Cooperation Agency only get as far as Kabul, Kandahar and relatively narrow areas around these cities.

Extreme caution is essential in running aid programs in the provinces. But it seems unfair that organizations affiliated with the government of Japan just stand aside while international relief agencies and nongovernmental organizations carry out their work in dangerous areas at great risk.

Basic medical facilities in Afghanistan are concentrated on certain specific areas, the nation's deputy public health minister said late last year in a statement issued in Tokyo. The top priority for the government of Afghanistan is to ensure that everyone receives aid and public services on an equal basis, the deputy minister said.

The statement was meant to be a call for aid over broad areas, in keeping with the results of the first nationwide survey conducted by the government with support of an international nongovernmental organization.

Such regional gaps should not be allowed to widen in the course of national reconstruction from devastation by years of war. But donor countries, international relief agencies and nongovernmental organizations should work closely with the Afghan transitional government to coordinate information for effective assistance. There should be more such broad-based cooperation.

Some people involved in aid programs in Afghanistan have said Japan's assistance often misses fulfilling local needs because it comes too late due to time-consuming bureaucratic procedures.

Transparency is essential for public assistance involving huge sums of public money. But there are needs to make aid supply more flexible and more cost-effective by simplifying procedures at home.

Another concern is that interest in assistance to Afghanistan is being drawn away in the face of growing tension over Iraq.

Over the long term, Japanese should seriously discuss the issues involved in Japan's peacekeeping activities in places like Afghanistan. For now, though, Japan should concentrate on helping Afghanistan be most effective in its struggle to rebuild.