25 March 2008
By JEROME STARKEY AND ROSS LYDALL
BILLIONS of pounds earmarked for rebuilding Afghanistan have been wasted on overpaid consultants and corporate profits, a damning report claims.
Total foreign aid to Afghanistan amounts to £3.5 million a day – a fraction of the £50 million the United States government spends each day maintaining its military presence.
It says £5 billion of promised funds has never materialised – while £3 billion of the £7.5 billion actually spent has found its way back to wealthy donor countries rather than helping the Afghan economy.
This has happened through a mix of "high levels of corruption", bumper company profits of up to 50 per cent and the vast earnings potential of foreign consultants, who can take home up to £250,000 a year as a result of hardship payments and "danger money".
Some £5 billion of promised aid is still with foreign governments, apparently because of delays in reconstruction on the ground, corruption and the inability of the Afghan government to keep tabs on the vast sums of cash.
Five American companies are named as having scooped the lion's share of their country's cash – with huge sums eaten up by an opaque web of sub-contractors.
The consultants' six-figure salaries are in shocking contrast to the millions of Afghans who live in extreme poverty. About half of the 27 million population are thought to live on 50p a day, and one in five children dies before his or her fifth birthday.
Last night, opposition politicians in Britain said the discrepancy between the aid pledged and delivered was "staggering", and there was a "real danger" of failing Afghanistan's desperately poor population.
Total foreign aid to Afghanistan amounts to £3.5 million a day – a fraction of the £50 million the United States government spends each day maintaining its military presence.
Meanwhile, the security situation continues to deteriorate, as Afghans grow increasingly disillusioned with the international presence. There are about 57,000 troops in the war-torn country, including 7,800 from the UK.
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