AFGHANISTAN: "Situation is critical and demands urgent action" - NGOs

Photo: Tasal/IRIN

NGOs have urged swift actions from the next president to improve the humanitarian situation in the country

KABUL, 15 October 2009 (IRIN) - In a memorandum to Afghanistan’s next president, 16 Afghan and international NGOs and civil society organizations have called for urgent improvements in the health, education and human rights sectors.

While calling the country’s presidential elections “flawed”, the NGOs said in a press release on 15 October:  “Afghanistan’s next government must urgently devote greater resources to building up to 6,000 new schools, training upwards of 5,000 new midwives and professionalizing the police force to improve the lives of ordinary Afghans.”

“The situation is critical and demands urgent action from the Afghan government and other key stakeholders,” it said.

Hamidullah Saljuqi, director of the NGO Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (CHA), told IRIN that aid agencies were gravely concerned about the overall humanitarian, security and the political situation.

The memo criticizes the Afghan government for rampant corruption and weak institutions which have hampered the delivery of essential services, particularly in rural areas.

Donors criticized

Donors and international organizations are also criticized for their alleged preference for “quick impact projects”, weak coordination and less than effective aid approaches.

“Quick impact projects can be quickly sold to taxpayers in donor countries and thereby garner support for politicians,” Abdul Waheed Hamidi from the Kabul-based Saba Media Organization, told IRIN.

Incumbent Afghan President Hamid Karzai has acknowledged corruption in his government but said the problem has been exaggerated by the media.

NGOs have praised the progress made in health, education and women’s rights over the past eight years but have warned about other challenges.

“Approximately every half hour, one Afghan woman dies from pregnancy-related complications and another from tuberculosis,” said the memo, adding that backtracking on women’s rights must be avoided.

According to some aid agencies operating in Afghanistan, the country’s health system is heavily dependent on foreign aid. About US$1 billion worth of aid money has been spent on health services and on re-building the health sector over the past five years, according to the Ministry of Public Health.
 
Afghanistan held its second ever presidential elections on 20 August but official results are yet to be announced. The elections have been marred by widespread allegations of fraud, mostly benefiting the incumbent. President Karzai needs to secure just over 50 percent to avoid a second round, which might get complicated with winter approaching. Some voters in the volatile south and east may be reluctant to turn out again, according to AFP.
 
Once the Elections Complaints Commission, a UN-backed body, has examined the fraud charges, the Independent Elections Commission will officially announce the winner.

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