Anticipating a promising future

Anticipating a promising future: following the Paris conference on 12 June, which pledged $20bn for the reconstruction of Afghanistan, the country's minister of finance, Anwarulhaq Ahadi, spoke exclusively to The Middle East about how he anticipates the money will be spent and the differences it will make to long-suffering Afghan citizens.

ANWARULHAO AHADI I used to enjoy reading The Middle East magazine when I was a professor in the US; the University library was a subscriber and I read it every month, cover to cover. It was one of the best publications about the area. I also read The Economist, and sometimes The Herald Tribune, when I travel.

I suppose you still read TME regularly?

Unfortunately not, as I don't have access to it and it is difficult to find time for reading when working 13/14 hours a day, but I always recommend to my students to read it.

The Paris conference on 12 June follows on from the one held in London in January 2006. It was convened at the initiative of President Hamid Karzai, French president Nicolas Sarkozy and the UN's general-secretary Ban Ki Moon. According to the latter, it is not just financial aid Afghanistan requires; there is also a need to "seal a new deal with the international community". Would you say that was accurate?

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In London we had a deal with the international community that the Afghan government would introduce certain reforms to improve the everyday lives of Afghan people. In exchange, the international community said it would help us financially.

We had a review of the situation. The French president was very strong in his support; the others were quite supportive, obviously they have some concerns which we look forward to discussing.

They agreed to contribute more than $20bn worth of new money, almost twice the pledges received in London. We are delighted with the outcome of the Paris meeting.

You have a promise of $20bn for reconstruction hut you were hoping for $50bn. who will benefit and how will the money he managed?

We asked for $50bn over five years; we already had $15bn pledged. Now we have a new pledge of $20bn so we are already up to $35bn. We must also generate $7bn ourselves in the next four years--I am quite confident.

Can you tell us more about the Afghanistan Development Strategic Programme (ANDS), and the 2008-2013 reconstruction plan? How will funds be allocated and what measures will be put in place to avoid misuse?

We have based our development plan on three main pillars:

* Security--we intend to allocate $14.5bn to build up our security forces.

* Local government--in order to improve justice and local administration we plan to introduce our public administration reform programme and, over the next five years we are expecting to allocate a further $3bn to improve our governance.

* Infrastructure--we need to spend time and money rebuilding our roads, power supply, resources etc. We have also allocated $5bn for the agricultural sector, and $5bn for education.

So far, these allocations alone amount to 80-85% of the total amount pledged.

Corruption is, of course, a sensitive issue for all countries; we have asked the World Bank for help and we will be implementing the Bank's recommendations for transparency. Everybody is concerned about corruption but I would hate to see a situation where innocent people are punished--it is very important that we catch the real thieves and punish them. The government has an intelligence operation to catch offenders--what the Americans call a sting--so that people are caught in the act, and not just apprehended on circumstantial evidence. The president appointed a commission headed by the Chief of Justice and in a month, the government will announce the adoption of a series of recommendations put forward which, we hope will make a difference. It is a very serious problem and there are no easy solutions.

How does the local population feel about corruption?

It is regarded as a serious problem after security--probably the next most important issue.

Security, corruption and poverty, all three will be what the people judge the government on. We will try to do our best.

Security is the main question raised when Afghanistan is discussed in global circles. In Kabul, the government's authority appears well established and solid. How can this achievement be reinforced outside the capital area?

The government's authority is pretty widespread. Occasionally the guerillas attack government forces--you can't have people defending every district--so there is trouble for a day or two but then they lose control again; insurgents manage to create a sense of insecurity for the citizens, but they do not have control. Unfortunately guerilla warfare can include terrorism, suicide bombings--all very difficult to prevent. If you take the measures needed, you restrict movement. We have to establish a balance between security concerns and normal everyday life.

For the future the agricultural sector is a top priority--how will this be managed?

Our old irrigation systems are in a state of disrepair. We have allocated some money to repair and replace what is left. We need to bring new land under cultivation--as our population has doubled since the communist revolution--to address the issue of food security for our people; one approach is to build large water reserves with dams, with the dual purpose of storing water that can be used to generate energy and to reclaim new lands. We have done the feasibility studies and as soon as the pledges are transformed into commitments we will try and implement these.

In recent years, agriculture in Afghanistan has been synonymous with drug cultivation and production. More than 95% of the world's opium comes from the country. Government initiatives to persuade farmers towards alternative crops have had only limited success. How can the stain on Afghanistan's integrity be removed and its farmers dissuaded once and for all from poppy cultivation?

We have to follow a policy of "carrot and stick". I don't think people can be persuaded not to grow poppies without incentives to move to something else. Saying 'this is illegal and we are going to prosecute you' is the stick but at the same time we are offering a carrot in the sense we will help fund farmers to grow something else. I believe it is the responsibility of the government to identify crops with a high income yield rather than the traditional wheat, barley and corn and to help those who cooperate.

We plan to reduce poppy cultivation by 50% in the next five years and hopefully in 10 years to eradicate it. This year there is evidence of a substantial decrease compared to last year.

The treatment of Afghan women is an important human rights issue that remains in the international spotlight. The global community will be reluctant to support a society that treats 50% of its members unfairly. How can the balance be redressed to allow Afghan women a place and a voice in their society?

I think our efforts in the last six years have been quite successful in women's rights--35%-40% of girls go to school; more than 25% of our members of parliament are women. Of those working in my ministry, 500 to 600 are women: I think it is an area where we have done well.

Our laws are very gender conscious and although it will take some time before we have equality--it could be a generation or more--this is one area where we have made good progress I wish I could say we enjoyed the same success with eradicating corruption.

In your Ministry of Finance, you say you have many women working; are they in important roles?

In Afghanistan, we do not have an abundance of well qualified personnel--we have to take who we can find for the role. I did offer the deputy minister position to an Afghan woman--unfortunately she did not take it; she was an expatriate in the US and has since returned to New York. I was a banker in the US; I did an MBA at Northwest University in Chicago and subsequently joined Continental bank in the 1980s. At that time, even in the US, we hardly had any women CEOs or VPs. Now it's very different, lots of women hold positions of high rank, it just takes time.

You have elections next year ...

Yes, our presidential elections will take place in September 2009. We have had only one other election, in 2004, and our greatest hope is that Afghanistan will emerge in 2009 as a functioning democracy. It is important our elections are open and fair. We hope the international community will help finance and monitor them--that is the key to international legitimacy. Many Afghans who might compete for office have a high profile; the potential candidates have not been announced; there are rumours but I don't know who will run; two to three official candidates are coming forward. I am looking forward to it; elections are an important part of the democratic process.

Coming back to the Paris conference. Laura Bush was present at the conference when the US proposed to give $10bn. What do you think about the US position with regard to the Afghan government?

I think the US administration has been extremely generous towards the Afghan government and we are grateful. Their help accounts for 65%-70% of the total assistance. We greatly appreciate Laura Bush coming to represent the US in person. Of course, we appreciate the support of all donors but the US support shows absolute devotion. Afghanistan is very lucky that the US public and their political parties, be it democrats or republicans, do not regard Afghanistan as a contentious issue. As far as I know, both McCain and Obama will continue to support us.

Thank you, I will take the latest TME to read on the plane