Copyright 2002 Federal News Service, Inc. Federal News Service
March 14, 2002, Thursday
SECTION: PREPARED TESTIMONY
LENGTH: 2214 words
HEADLINE:
PREPARED STATEMENT OF ANDREW S. NATSIOS ADMINISTRATOR, U.S. AGENCY FOR
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
BEFORE THE HOUSE
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE
BODY: Chairman Hyde, Congressman Lantos, Members of the Committee: I am very
pleased to have the opportunity to appear before you today and have the chance
to discuss what the U.S. Agency for International Development is doing
with respect to Afghanistan.
As you can well imagine,
Afghanistan has been a major priority for our agency and for the Administration
for many months, and it is likely to continue that way for a long time to come.
I would like to thank this Committee, therefore, for the outstanding support it
has shown us thus far and for the cooperation that I am certain we can count on
in the future.
Afghanistan presents one of the most
difficult humanitarian and development challenges USAID has ever faced. The
Afghans are a remarkably resilient people, but the stress of the past 22 years
has taken a tremendous toll on people's lives. About half the country lives in
absolute poverty. Average life expectancy is 46 years. Malnutrition is
widespread. The child mortality rate is among the highest in the world. About a
third of the Afghan people are still dependent on external food aid.
Individual security is uncertain. Unemployment is running at about 50 percent,
and 70 percent of the people are illiterate. Virtually all the country's
institutions and much of its infrastructure have been destroyed.
Most of this was apparent when I became USAID
Administrator last spring and cited Afghanistan as one of the three countries in
the world with the greatest humanitarian needs. By then, three years of drought,
more than two decades of war, and the Taliban's appalling misrule had raised the
specter of impending famine. Already the world's leading supplier of emergency
food assistance to the Afghan people, we stepped up our efforts as the summer
progressed.
The events of September 11 only added to
the challenge -- and redoubled our determination to help the Afghan people.
Throughout the fall, and in the midst of the campaign to remove the Taliban, we
continued to work with the World Food Program, and other international
and local NGOs, to deliver food and humanitarian assistance. Despite the
difficulties and the approach of winter, by December we had surpassed our goals
and delivered several hundred thousand metric tons of food, an unprecedented
amount given the circumstances. Although pockets of hunger remain, the
widespread famine we feared has not occurred.
Altogether, the U.S. Government spent more than $183 million on
humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan in FY 2001. We have already surpassed
that in the first six months of this fiscal year, with overall U.S. Government
assistance totaling more than $239 million thus far. Of that, $83.9 million has
come from USAID's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, $75 million from our
Food for Peace program, and $14.2 million from our Office of Transition
Initiatives.
On Monday, President Bush hosted a White
House ceremony to mark the six-month anniversary of the September 11th attacks.
At it he noted both the tremendous difficulties Afghanistan has posed, and the
success our assistance has helped make possible. "Afghanistan," he said, "has
many difficult challenges ahead - and yet, we've averted mass starvation, begun
clearing mine fields, rebuilding roads and improving health care."
USAID has played a major role in all this. Today, we are
not only supplying emergency food assistance but also investing $167 million in
recovery and reconstruction assistance made available this fiscal year. We are
also putting Afghans back to work rebuilding roads and irrigation systems,
repairing schools and hospitals, immunizing children, and providing seed so that
farmers can plant their crops this spring.
We are also
printing 9.7 million textbooks, four million of which will be ready for the
opening of Afghanistan's schools nine days from now. We are re-training women
teachers so that they can return to their classrooms now that the Taliban has
been removed. Another of our quick-impact programs has paid for the
refurbishment of the Ministry of Women's Affairs. That the work was completed
for International Women's Day - March 8 - has served, I think, as both a
symbol and a concrete demonstration of our commitment to Afghan women.
By funding a series of quick-impact programs and designing
USAID's Afghan strategy so that our emergency assistance contributes directly to
our longer-term development goals, we are gaining months of precious time.
Our near-term priorities are clear. For the present, we
have four specific goals in support of the war against terrorists of global
reach and the U.S. policy of assisting Afghanistan:
-
Providing humanitarian assistance and assisting returned refugees and internally
displaced persons; - Re-establishing food security; - Creating conditions for
stability, providing alternatives to conflict, terrorism and drug trafficking;
and - Assisting the Afghan Interim Authority.
Let me
explain in more detail. Unfortunately, the drought that has plagued Afghanistan
for four years is still under way. That means that unless the situation changes
dramatically - and soon - we must continue our major emergency food aid
and humanitarian assistance programs.
Stability and
recovery in Afghanistan will be difficult until people can return to their homes
and resume normal lives. So along with providing emergency humanitarian
assistance, assisting refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) to
resettle where conditions allow is our first goal. Life in these camps is seldom
safe or healthy, despite the efforts of the international community to
provide for them. As we have seen in many countries, the poverty and
powerlessness of the people who live in these camps make them tempting targets
for many kinds of lawless groups.
Second, we must focus
our attention on re-establishing food security as quickly as possible. This
means ensuring that food production is increased, that people have the family
income to buy food, and that they are sufficiently healthy to benefit from
it.
In order to do this, we will emphasize
Afghanistan's agriculture and infrastructure. Our immediate focus is on critical
inputs: seeds, tools, and fertilizer for this spring's planting season. We also
need to rebuild irrigation systems and rural feeder roads, plant new trees and
orchards, extend farmers credit, and create viable alternatives to poppy
cultivation.
Much of this we have already begun to do.
Since September we have launched many small cash-for-work, food-for-work, and
seed-for-work projects. In order for people to be able to purchase food -
instead of receiving it as a handout -- we need to help restore Afghanistan's
economy. To do this we will emphasize local reconstruction programs that
generate jobs.
This, too, we have already begun. Since
December, we have funded several different food-for-work programs that employ
Afghans throughout the country on water supply, irrigation, road repair and seed
distribution projects. Altogether we now have nine food for-work projects under
way, at a cost of approximately $2.3 million.
Most of
those who die in famines or near famine situations succumb not to starvation,
but disease.
While, as has been noted above, wide-scale
famine has been averted, there are plenty of Afghans who are undernourished and
vulnerable to disease. Our goal, therefore, is to ensure that children, in
particular, receive enough food and vitamins, and that they get immunized and
treated for various diarrheal diseases and respiratory infections. We are also
looking to provide pre- and post-natal care for mothers, build community wells
and latrines, and improve overall hygiene and sanitation practices.
Again, we did not wait for peace to begin our development
relief. Since December, we have supported a wide range of basic health
activities. This includes training, providing vaccines and vitamins to children,
and establishing emergency obstetric care centers.
Our
third goal is to create conditions for stability and provide alternatives to
conflict, terrorism and drug trafficking.
To do this,
we plan to emphasize several elements in our programs in addition to
rehabilitating the agricultural sector:
- crop
substitution to reduce poppy growing; - physical infrastructure rehabilitation;
- access to credit; - education, especially for girls; - establishing and
strengthening local institutions for accountable government; and - food
assistance as salary supplements for Afghan civil servants, especially
teachers.
Reopening schools, supplying textbooks and
training teachers can make an important contribution to Afghanistan's stability.
For the first time in years, girls will have the opportunity to attend school
and obtain the education they deserve. This is true for many boys, as well.
Attending school helps restore a sense of normalcy to children's lives; it gets
them off the streets and back into established routines, enhancing security in
the process. Further, as two-thirds of Afghanistan's teachers have traditionally
been women, reopening the schools will return thousands of these women to the
workforce, with all the economic benefits that this entails for themselves and
their families.
Similarly, restoring Afghanistan's
agricultural sector has multiple benefits. Historically, 80 percent of the
population depends on fanning and grazing. Revitalizing this sector not only
will reduce dependency on international food assistance, but give
employment to former combatants, help stabilize the security environment, and
spur the economy.
Our fourth goal is improving the
governing capacity of Afghanistan's Interim Authority and its successors. In the
short term, this means providing support to the Interim Authority and the
Transitional Government expected to be in place later this year. Over time, it
will entail many different programs and areas of emphasis. Among these are good
governance and rule of law; re-establishing functioning markets and improving
the investment climate, especially in agriculture; private sector development;
agricultural research and training programs; basic education;
and improving the health sector.
We have few illusions
that rebuilding Afghanistan will be a quick or easy job. Still, we can greatly
improve our chances for success if we recognize and abide by the following ideas
and principles:
- Peace is a prerequisite for progress.
The pace of reconstruction naturally depends on the extent to which the
country's factions, regions, and ethnic groups cooperate. Under the current
security conditions, no one should expect our efforts to produce rapid and
tangible change or to continue indefinitely if civil war or chaos break out. -
The role of women in the recovery and reconstruction effort will be critical.
Before the Taliban, Afghan women occupied important positions in the country's
economic, social and cultural affairs, and we will support their efforts to do
so again. - Afghan ownership is essential. To ensure success and sustainability,
our programs must have the support of the Afghan people and build on their
traditions and practices. At the same time, they must take ethnic balance into
consideration. - Build upon existing Afghan capability. Afghans have a strong
tradition of self-reliance. Programming should reinforce their traditions of
community responsibility, support local NGOs, use Afghan technical experts, and
encourage the return of Afghan expatriates to the country. - Encourage the
return of refugees and IDPs.
Address the needs of those
who have not had access to school and training. A generation of young Afghans
have grown up in an atmosphere of violence and conflict. Many who took up arms
lost the opportunity to attend school or receive training. As a result, many
lack skills that are transferable to civilian life. Addressing the needs of
these individuals will be an important priority.
At the
Tokyo donor's conference this January, Secretary of State Powell pledged $297
million on behalf of the U.S. Government to help the Afghan people. Of that,
USAID is managing $167 million in Fiscal Year 2002. We have programmed this as
follows: $77 million in humanitarian food assistance; $22 million in other
emergency supplies; $38 million for agricultural and rural economic development;
$9.7 million in health care; $6.5 million for education; and $13.5 million for
good governance and political stabilization programs. Another $2.7 million will
fund the War Victims Fund, polio eradication and other programs. Altogether, we
have already obligated $104 million of this $167 million.
As Secretary Powell said of Afghanistan earlier this year: "President
Bush, the Congress, and the American people recognize fully that rebuilding that
war-torn country will require additional resources and that our support will be
a multi-year effort."
We expect this. We are aware that
our goals for Afghanistan are ambitious and that even under better circumstances
it would be hard to guarantee success. But however difficult the reconstruction
of the country proves to be, there is one thing I can guarantee you, Mr.
Chairman: we at USAID are committed to doing our very best for Afghanistan.
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