20 April 2010

Excellency

We, the undersigned coalitions representing a large number of aid organizations with up to five decades of experience working alongside Afghan communities, are writing to urge your government and other troop-contributing countries to phase out military involvement in development activities and develop and implement a long-term aid strategy based on the needs and priorities of the Afghan people.

As NATO members gather in Tallinn, much discussion will revolve around the international militaries’ role in Afghanistan. As organizations with decades of experience in development and humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan, we stress that unless development is effective in reducing poverty and creating sustainable and tangible improvement in the quality of people’s lives, overall stability will remain fragile.  We respectfully raise our strong concerns regarding the military’s involvement in the funding and delivery of aid as counter-productive to long-term goals to support development, peace and stability for the following reasons.

• Danger to civilians: The military’s involvement in aid projects like seed distribution, cash-for-work, and school and clinic construction is often putting the most vulnerable Afghans, who too often have little choice in who provides aid, at unnecessary risk of targeted attacks and intimidation.  Acceptance of, or involvement in military assistance is perceived as taking sides, and marks beneficiaries as well as aid workers as potential targets.
• Lack of sustainability: The military’s short timeframes and high turnover are unrealistic for development to take root in communities. There is little evidence that the “quick impact” approach gains local ownership or builds capacity towards a sustainable impact. Aid provided by or through the military is often much more costly than services and programs provided through civilian (government and civil society) channels.  The quick-impact approach adopted by military aid projects also diverts benefits to selected groups and can create unrealistic expectations and may, in some cases, cause more harm than good.

In spite of growing evidence that military aid is not effective in either enabling development or “winning hearts and minds”, more aid than ever is being channelled through the military, instead of strengthening Afghan institutions including Afghan civil society.  A more effective approach to development is not only possible, but critical, at this time in Afghanistan.  We strongly urge the [country] government, in partnership with the international community, the Afghan government and civil society, to:

• Commit to supporting the rights of the Afghan people over the long-term to socio-economic development by developing and implementing a coherent donor aid strategy, independent from that of the military, which addresses weak governance, building capacity, reducing chronic poverty, strengthening human and women’s rights and preventing humanitarian crises and disasters.
• Progressively re-allocate aid funds delivered through military channels to civilian entities including the Afghan government, Afghan civil society, international aid agencies, and the U.N system specialized in designing and implementing long-term development programs.

Military forces cannot and should not be expected by politicians to take on responsibilities for which they are ill-equipped due to their lack of development expertise and local knowledge.

NATO’s present counterinsurgency strategy, to be implemented by June 2011, can not bring about the fundamental improvements to health, education, protection of rights and access to basic services that Afghans desperately need and want. The international community has a duty to follow-through on its commitment to the Afghan people by articulating a strategy and an action plan for sustained engagement, long after international military forces leave the country.  As a first step, members states should immediately refrain from inappropriate military involvement in the delivery of aid and call upon all NATO contributing country forces to Afghanistan to follow suit.

We look forward to your leadership in achieving a consensus among the international community to address the issues critical to the peace and stability of Afghanistan.

Sincerely,

Agency Coordination Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR)

British and Irish Agencies for Afghanistan Group (BAAG)

Canadian Council for International Co-operation (CCIC)

European Network for NGOs in Afghanistan (ENNA)