Canada Pours More Into Afghan Reconstruction, But How To Spend It?

"We're not here to make promises," Lt.-Col. Mick Ryan said in a recent presentation to Canadian journalists. "We're here to build things." With Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government poised to pour as much as C$200 million more into Canadian reconstruction in southern Afghanistan, the question of how and where the money will be spent is crucial. Ottawa already puts $100 million per year into this war-ravaged country through civilian agencies, but much of it goes towards long-term good governance and economic initiatives, such as micro-credit financing for Afghans to start their own businesses. Infrastructure investment has amounted to between $6 million and $8 million per year, according to a fact sheet provided by the prime minister's office. The Canadian military by itself only has a small pot of reconstruction money to spend and in the last five months the majority of it has gone into constructing a 4.5-kilometre road through what was the former Taliban stronghold of Panjwaii. If you ask Afghans, especially those in regions torn apart by fighting, what they consider to be the priority, they will tell you infrastructure. "The Canadians are witness in our area," said Shafikhan, who owns land in Pashmul, west of Kandahar, where many a pitched battle was fought last year. "They see our mosques. They are fallen down, destroyed. They see our houses and homes. They see everything by their own eyes. They know our problems. It is up to them what kind of help they do in the future." Canadians have paid for the digging of more than 1,000 wells to help restore irrigation canals and reservoirs. Improvements have been made to dozens of schools, four bridges and a number of roads, according to the handout from the prime minister's office. But much of this has taken place slowly because after asking village elders what they need, the Canadians contract the work out to Afghans, a process the commander of Canadian troops in the country defended. http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/War_Terror/2007/02/25/pf-3665315.html

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