Brussels Conference on Afghanistan: CISDA press release

Milano 4 Ottobre 2016

On 4 and 5 October 2016, the European Union and the government of Afghanistan will co-host the Brussels Conference on Afghanistan. This conference will gather up to 70 countries and 30 international organisations and agencies. Following the London Conference on Afghanistan in 2014 and the Tokyo Conference in 2012, the Brussels Conference, which is run in partnership with the international community, is expected to focus on the ‘significant progress achieved by the Afghan people in a wide range of areas over the past 14 years..’

Yet recent figures reveal a different scenario, which is far from positive.

US and Nato installed a bunch of well-known criminals called Northern Alliance instead of Taliban and now are including the most notorious warlord, Gulbuddin Hikmatyar, “Butcher of Kabul”, into the circles of governmental criminals. All of them should be prosecuted for their crimes.

Afghanistan is still a war country occupied by foreign powers, with nine US/NATO permanent military bases, built with the Afghan government’s approval. United Nations reports show that, since the beginning of the conflict, 111,442 civilians have died while 116,603 have been injured. The ongoing clashes among local Taliban militias or the ‘collateral damages’ of Western airstrikes are not the sole causes behind these dramatic figures. Infact, a series of suicide attacks (Isil-K) carried out by Daesh, whose presence in the country has been officially confirmed by the US last year, as well as bloody fighting among Afghan warlords are also to blame.

UNHCR figures show that since 1978 (which marks the beginning of the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan) the number of people fleeing this war-torn country has dramatically risen. Today, Afghanistan remains the second-largest source country for refugees after Syria.

Regarding human rights, in 2014, the UNDP Human Development Index (HDI) – a composite statistic of key indicators of human development – positioned Afghanistan at 171 out of 188 countries and territories with the lowest human development index. The broken promises of the Afghan president Ghani, with regards to health, education and employment remain a demagogic instrument.

The latest report by UNIFEM reveals that the Afghan Ministry of Women’s Affairs alone registered more than 4,000 cases of violence against women in the first nine months of 2015. Yet these figures, as confirmed by the agency itself are nonetheless inaccurate due to insecurity, lack of a functioning government or judiciary, and traditional practices, which combined to discourage victims and their families from reporting violence.

In light of these facts, the current situation of the country requires aid donors to re-consider the way the International community has so far invested its financial resources in Afghanistan.

In the last 14 years, thousands of billions of dollars have been spent, yet it is estimated that 90% of these resources have been used to fund the military intervention in Afghanistan, while only 10% has been allocated to development cooperation projects.

It is now clear that the request appeal that advanced during the Tokyo Conference in 2012 to allocate at least 30 per cent of financial aid to programmes of civil cooperation has failed to be addressed.

During the recent NATO summit in Warsaw, which took place in July 2016, NATO members agreed to help fund Afghan security forces to the tune of 4.5 billion dollars annually over the next three years. Once again, Italy committed to join its allies in the reconstruction process.

By itself, Afghanistan provides 85% of the estimated global heroin and morphine supply. According to Transparency International, Afghanistan is one of the most corrupted countries in the world and it is now plunging into a devastating political crisis which indisputably proves the failure of the International community’s transition plan.

Additional financial aid cannot be allocated without strict conditional measures to combat fraud and corruption in Afghanistan.

Part of a broader EU strategy of making aid to poor countries conditional on them accepting deported migrants, EU will send 80.000 afghan refugees back to danger and destitution.

To stop the disaster in which Afghanistan is hopelessly fallen after the US / NATO military occupation, it needs:

• to disarm and dis-power the warlords;
• not to remove the name of the criminal Gulbuddin from the black list of the UN, because in the past 15 years, one of the main reasons for expression of terrorism and human rights violations is the culture of impunity for war criminals and depriving Afghan people from justice.
• Ensure the implementation of transitional justice and prosecute the war criminals of the last four decades;
• Confiscate the gigantic wealth of the warlords earned from Afghan people;
• US and Nato to stop their occupation of Afghanistan and stop supporting Taliban and other militants through supply of arms to monger war and justify their presence in the country.
• Establish a new Independent Commission comprising of members of civil society, academics and international experts to strictly monitor and evaluate specific projects and national programmes funded with the next allocated financial aid.
• Immediately withdraw any financial aid and use required legal measures, whenever suspicions over the correct use and management of the allocated funds arise.
• Support and include democratic forces and the Afghan civil society in the design and implementation process of development projects and their foreign donors.
• Increase the percentage of resources allocated to civil cooperation programmes and humanitarian assistance in line with National Laws and International Conventions ratified in defence of Universal Human Rights.

It is sadly known that in Afghanistan, many people accused by independent agencies such as Human Rights Watch or Amnesty International of committing war crimes are now working within the government. As long as support to corrupted MPs and government workers is provided, the reconstruction of a democratic and peaceful country which the international community is committed to promote, cannot be achieved.

Coordinamento Italiano Sostegno Donne Afghane – CISDA