Peace in Afghanistan is undermined by Western nations' failure to deliver promised aid and 40 percent of funds that do reach the country return to the West in profits and salaries, aid agencies said on Tuesday.
Afghanistan relies on international aid for 90 percent of its spending as it tries to rebuild state institutions shattered by nearly 30 years of war and at the same time fight off a renewed Taliban insurgency that killed 6,000 people last year.
Foreign spending on aid and development is dwarfed by that spent on international military operations in Afghanistan.
The U.S. military alone now spends some $100 million (50 million pounds) a day fighting Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, but spending on aid by all donors since 2001 amounts to only $7 million a day.
"Given the links between development and security, the effectiveness of aid also has a major impact on peace and stability," the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR) said in a report.
"Yet thus far aid has been insufficient and in many cases wasteful and ineffective," said ACBAR, an umbrella group for non-governmental organisations working in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan received just $57 per capita in aid in the two years after international intervention, compared with $679 a head in Bosnia and $233 in East Timor, it said.
"$10 BILLION SHORTFALL"
The international community has pledged to spend some $25 billion on reconstruction and development in Afghanistan.
