Wasted! £1.6bn of aid to Afghanistan: Report finds opium production trebled in a decade

Daily Mail Online

6 March 2014

Much of the £1.6billion sent in aid to Afghanistan by Britain since 2006 has been wasted, a major report warns today.

The Independent Commission for Aid Impact says that much of the programme to cut opium production has ‘performed poorly’, with little monitoring of value for money.

The aid watchdog delivers a withering verdict on the Department for International Development’s efforts to divert economic activity away from the cultivation of opium, much of which ends up on Britain’s streets.

The study says Dfid’s £20million ‘rural development programme’, which aimed to persuade farmers to switch to legal crops, produced ‘no evidence of long-term sustainable change’.

Poppy cultivation in Helmand has risen by more than 50 per cent since 2010 to over 250,000 acres.

Overall opium production in Afghanistan has trebled in the last decade to over 500,000 acres.

A £36million ‘employment and enterprise’ programme is criticised after creating just 6,600 jobs – two thirds of the original target.

The project had a target of helping 118,000 people achieve ‘improved income opportunities’ but ended up assisting 4,625.

A separate £14million ‘growth programme’ was condemned for goals which were described as ‘unrealistic and vague’.

Some projects fared better. An £8million initiative to improve 30 miles of Helmand’s roads was broadly rated a success. And a £20million scheme to clear landmines helped 130,000 families.

The report says Dfid is doing better at reducing corruption on its aid programmes in Afghanistan although it warns that corruption remains ‘endemic’.

But it reveals that only 40 per cent of the money sent to Afghanistan actually enters its economy, with most of it siphoned off by foreign contractors.

Although some aspects of the programme have fared better, the study says it is ‘not clear how positive impacts will be sustained in the long run’ after troops have left the country.

Western troops withdraw at the end of this year and Dfid is committed to spending £180million a year in Afghanistan until at least 2017.

Mark Foster, a commissioner at the ICAI, said there was an alarming ‘lack of building blocks for the future’.

One minister warned last night: ‘We need to be much clearer with the public now about the fact we have not managed to create a stable state. Some things are going to go backwards. It could be pretty bad but we are not preparing people for that.’

The report warns that the withdrawal of troops from Helmand is likely to have a ‘widespread impact’ on Dfid’s ability to deliver aid in the region. It warns aid workers are likely to face greater risk of attack.

It says Dfid is drawing up plans to double the money allocated to humanitarian relief, ‘suggesting that it is preparing for the potential of a worsening future’.

And it suggests that Dfid should now focus on poverty reduction, instead of grandiose aims of creating a stable, Western-style democracy.

Dfid last night defended its Afghan aid programme, insisting that even the poppy reduction projects were ‘delivering results’. A spokesman said: ‘Our post-2014 planning will take all ICAI’s recommendations into account.’

One minister warned last night: ‘We need to be much clearer with the public now about the fact we have not managed to create a stable state. Some things are going to go backwards. It could be pretty bad but we are not preparing people for that.’

The report warns that the withdrawal of troops from Helmand is likely to have a ‘widespread impact’ on Dfid’s ability to deliver aid in the region. It warns aid workers are likely to face greater risk of attack.

It says Dfid is drawing up plans to double the money allocated to humanitarian relief, ‘suggesting that it is preparing for the potential of a worsening future’.

And it suggests that Dfid should now focus on poverty reduction, instead of grandiose aims of creating a stable, Western-style democracy.

Dfid last night defended its Afghan aid programme, insisting that even the poppy reduction projects were ‘delivering results’. A spokesman said: ‘Our post-2014 planning will take all ICAI’s recommendations into account.’