By Katie Nguyen and Olesya Dmitracova
LONDON (AlertNet) - Three decades of conflict in Afghanistan have impoverished its people and left its infrastructure in tatters, with few and often poorly equipped hospitals, little sewage or sanitation and a shortage of paved roads.
Billions of dollars in aid have been poured into the Central Asian country since the Taliban were toppled in 2001.
But fighting between the Taliban and Afghan and NATO-led international forces has frustrated relief and development efforts - as has widespread corruption.
At a summit last week, the European Union - many of whose members belong to NATO - said it may raise its 1 billion euro ($1.4 billion) aid commitment but wanted allegations of fraud in Afghanistan's presidential election last month to be addressed.
Partial results show President Hamid Karzai inching towards possible re-election in a single round, and defeating main challenger Abdullah Abdullah.
Here is a round-up of the various issues facing Afghans, aid workers and international donors.
WHAT DO AFGHANS THINK ABOUT WHERE THEIR COUNTRY IS HEADED?
Thirty-eight percent of Afghans say the country is moving in the right direction, and 32 percent in the wrong direction -- with both groups saying security is the main factor, according to a 2008 country survey by the Asia Foundation.
Overall, the proportion of respondents with a positive view of security in their area has fallen in most regions since 2007.
WHAT DO AFGHANS SAY ABOUT...
...MAIN CONCERNS? The survey questioned 6,593 people nationwide. Thirty-six percent said Afghanistan's biggest problem was security, 31 percent cited economic worries including unemployment, 22 percent high prices, 17 percent a poor economy and 14 percent corruption.
...JOBS AND EDUCATION? Seventy-eight percent said there were few jobs in their area, while only seven percent reported any improvement in employment opportunities over the past couple of years. Almost half the women questioned said their biggest problem was education and illiteracy. However, 44 percent of the people polled reported improvements in access to schools in the last two years and 70 percent said the availability of an education for children was good.
...INFRASTRUCTURE? Access to electricity, water and roads were also cited as problems.
HOW MUCH AID HAS BEEN GIVEN?
International donors have provided more than $20 billion in development and humanitarian aid to Afghanistan since 2001, according to the ACBAR umbrella group of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the country.
Aid agencies and observers say funds are insufficient and misused. In a 2008 report, ACBAR called the volume of aid to Afghanistan "woefully inadequate", adding that in the two years following international interventions, Afghanistan had received $57 per capita, while Bosnia and East Timor received $679 and $233 per capita respectively.
One major problem preventing donor money from being put to its intended use - for example to build roads or deliver food to the poorest - is deteriorating security.
Large swathes of the country are so dangerous that it is almost impossible for aid groups to deliver any services or collect any information about the needs of the communities there. Farmers going to fields to tend to crops or herders taking cows to grazing land face the risk of stumbling across landmines. The same threat makes it difficult for communities to access health centres, markets and sources of clean water, aid workers say.
WHICH REGIONS ARE NOT COVERED BY AID GROUPS?
Most of the country.
"Most of the areas covered by aid agencies are the most secure - Kabul, Mazar-i-Sharif, for example. But there's no coverage in rural areas, where the needs are most pressing," said Bedreldin Shutta, head of Islamic Relief's Asia programmes.
Almost two-thirds of Afghanistan is very difficult to access, Robert Watkins, deputy U.N. envoy for Afghanistan with responsibility for development and humanitarian affairs, told AlertNet.
Increasingly aid is channelled through Provincial Reconstruction Teams, run by the armies of 14 nations - 12 of them NATO members - and many NGOs and bilateral aid agencies use armed convoys to move around.
This is highly controversial. Aid groups fear such tactics blur the line between the military and relief workers, compounding suspicion among Afghans that assistance is partisan rather than impartial. As a result aid workers are seen by the Taliban and other armed groups as being an extension of the NATO forces, and as such, legitimate targets in their insurgency.
WHAT ELSE COMPLICATES THE AID EFFORT?
Critics also blame pervasive corruption for stopping aid reaching those who need it in a country with powerful regional warlords. Institutions, especially in local government, lack skilled staff and expertise.
Six provinces still do not have offices for their governors and only half of the district governors have an office building, U.N. special envoy for Afghanistan Kai Eide said in June.
"For aid to be successful, you need to build the capacity of local organisations and local government departments," said Shutta, whose agency Islamic Relief runs education, health, drug rehabilitation, HIV awareness, water and agriculture projects.
"If this work is to be sustainable, then it needs to be passed on to civil society and community-based organisations...
The problem is most of the donors are only looking at funding well-established organisations, which means that communities are excluded."
IS AID BEING USED EFFECTIVELY?
The aid money that is available is not always spent effectively, critics say.
"Far too much aid has been prescriptive and driven by donor priorities - rather than responsive to evident Afghan needs and preferences," said the umbrella group ACBAR.
Too many aid projects are designed to deliver rapid, visible results, rather than long-term sustainable effects that would reduce Afghanistan's dependence on foreign help, experts say.
Donors are spending two-thirds of aid money outside state channels to avoid it being siphoned off by corrupt officials. But they are doing so without telling the Afghan government how and where the funds are being spent.
Critics say the practice undermines the government's authority, making it difficult to see whether donor programmes are in line with government aims or whether donors have lived up to their commitments. It also complicates planning and coordination between different donors and leads to an inequal distribution of funds among Afghan provinces.
HOW HIGH IS AID REFORM ON AFGHANISTAN'S POLITICAL AGENDA?
Neither Karzai nor opposition candidates have spoken of reform of aid delivery as a political priority. Making Afghanistan a safer place is the top issue.
An improvement in local security will help resolve many of the problems donors and aid workers face. Reducing endemic corruption is also vital.
Opposition candidate Abdullah has a slightly better chance of fighting corruption as a new government will not have yet been tarnished by allegations in the way that Karzai's government has, said Jan Zalewski, an analyst at Global Insight.
But neither violence by the Taliban nor corruption can be eradicated within one presidential term, he added.
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