Foreign Development Assistance in Afghanistan, 2001-18: A Critical Analysis

This paper critically analyses the impact of Foreign development assistance in Afghanistan. In Post-1919, Afghanistan introduced a tax collection system and was on the path of modernisation and development. During King Amanullah Khan, 60 per cent of revenues were coming from agricultural products. However, in the 1950s because of the plummeting domestic revenues, the country could not finance its needs and faced a fiscal deficit. As a result, in the 1960s, Afghanistan sought foreign assistance from major donors, particularly in the education and infrastructure sectors. Therefore, during the 1960-70's many infrastructure projects were built with financial assistance from the Soviet Union, United States, Germany, etc. However, the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union and the proxy war between both superpowers adversely impacted the development process in Afghanistan in the 1980-1990s. Nevertheless, Post-2001 was a hope for the redevelopment of Afghanistan. However, development assistance to Afghanistan was directly used by the donor countries undermining the medium and long-term Afghan government projects. Additionally, many projects and programs were overlapping and sometimes, subcontracted to many other companies which reduced the effectiveness of the development assistance on the ground. Therefore, the development assistance bypassed the Afghan government institutions, encouraged corruption, and complicated the the coordination process within the country and among the international donors