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ccording to the media, an international donors’ meeting in Japan pledged US$16 billion in development aid for Afghanistan over the next four years. But what is not clear is who exactly will provide this money, at a time when Europe and the US are experiencing a financial crisis, and the sixth eurozone nation just received a bailout.

The reality is that after 10 years of war, there have been several summits just like this one that proved to be a waste of both time and money. They did not have an impact on the fortunes of the Afghani people. Afghanistan is still considered the poorest country in the world.  

After 10 years of war, $432 billion in war expenditure, and a loss of 7,000 US and NATO soldiers, the US is realizing the truth of its failure. And NATO has finally accepted that they were not able to control even 30 percent of the country. High level security zones and government installations became easy targets for militants.

Ten years of war in Afghanistan paints a miserable picture of any success in Afghanistan. Despite the presence of more 150,000 US and foreign troops and $32 billion in annual expenditures, the situation is going from bad to worse.

The military operations in the south and east of the country have failed to bring peace. The killing of several top Karzai aides, including his brother, in heavily secured zones, shows the miserable position of the Karzai US puppet government.  

Despite heavy expenditures, a recent plan to shift the burden of security in some cities to Afghan security forces has failed to provide the desired results. The reality is that most Afghan soldiers trained by US and Isaf forces are not reliable, and they have clandestine partnerships with resistance forces. These partnerships and recent firing incidents have claimed the lives of several US soldiers this year.

Afghanistan is also experiencing the worst wave of suicide attacks in recent history, and even high security zones such as embassies and UN offices are not safe from these types of attacks.  Recently, several top Karzai aides, including his own brother Wali Karzai, former president and peace negotiator Burhan Uddin Rabbani, a powerful warlord; and Gen. Dawood, Kandahar police chief, have lost their lives in heavily secured zones. Recently, militants have occupied the heart of the Kabul high security green zone for several hours.

Civilians are also paying a high price, as there have been a record number of civilians who lost their lives in NATO air strikes this year. And according to the UN, they estimate that opium cultivation has increased by 61 percent this year.

After 10 years, the situation in Afghanistan is going from bad to worse, and according to a new survey, 65 percent of the US public opposes the recent direction of the Afghan war, at a time when the US is facing its own economic crisis.

Khawaja Umer Farooq
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia