Special Advisor to the Special Representative of the Secretary General for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), Mark S Ward, has said that Afghanistan at the crossroads at the start of the second decade of the 21st century due to trust deficit between the donors and Afghan government. He said that the biggest challenge faced by Afghans is the capacity building of the Afghans.
He was delivering a lecture on "Afghanistan Policy: Challenges of Reconstruction and Development" on Monday at Forman Christian College University Lahore on Monday. Mark said that there should be focused on actions rather than words. He also said that many Afghan expatriates are now returning to their country and have started playing their role in the reconstruction of Afghanistan.
He said that Afghan government needs advisors who know their language and understand their problems. He said that according to Afghan government foreign advisors are very expensive and they have to spend a lot on their security. He also said that now America has also started working on the proposal that there should be properly trained advisors of different fields who are Afghanis.
While sharing his experiences of working with the Afghan ministers he said that they understand the challenges and they are pragmatic. Mark said that one of the reasons of the donors reluctance to invest in Afghanistan is due to the issues of accountability in the Afghan government. About the question of the donors who are giving money to the extremist groups he said that security is necessary for the developmental projects and that's why there is a possibility that some donors may be giving money to some groups.
He said that Afghan district governors are facing liquidity problem to run their districts. He said that in 2002 after American attacks on Kabul and expulsion of Taliban from the Kabul there were international donors in the country and they were waiting for the Afghan governments directions to invest in different sectors but they received no directions from the government.
"You should adopt a practical and pragmatic approach especially in the case of Afghanistan," Mark said. While answering a question on poppy cultivation he said that there is a sizable decrease in the poppy cultivation area of Afghanistan. He also said now there are trained Afghan people in different fields and there also NGO's who have experience of working in different sectors and the donors could spend their money through them.
Mark said that international community especially American wants to leave the region as early as possible as it is evident from the President Obama's speech in which he announced that American force will leave the region in next 18 months. Mark said that UNAMA is responsible for implementation of its mandate to improve donor co-ordination and aid effectiveness in Afghanistan.
"We put good ideas and programs before the donors." Speaking on the occasion Professor of Political Science at Lahore University of Management Sciences Dr Rasul Baksh Rais said that if international forces should leave Afghanistan at this stage then there would be civil war in the country.
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