Afghans Lack $10 Billion in Aid, Report Says

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KABUL, Afghanistan — Western countries have failed to deliver $10 billion of nonmilitary assistance pledged to Afghanistan over the last six years and the United States, by far the biggest donor, is responsible for half of the shortfall, a new report published here on Tuesday said.

The report was written by a policy adviser from the British charity Oxfam and published by the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief, or Acbar, a coalition of Afghan and international nongovernment aid organizations. It warned that development assistance to Afghanistan had been inadequate and in many cases wasteful or ineffective, jeopardizing economic progress and security in the country.

Donor countries pledged $25 billion in aid from 2002 to 2008, but only $15 billion has been disbursed to date, the report states, citing Afghan government figures. The United States, which provides one third of all development assistance to Afghanistan, has spent only $5 billion of the $10.4 billion it has pledged for that period.

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