I think it is very difficult to argue that aid “didn’t work well” in Afghanistan when you look at any education or health metric. According to UNICEF there was a 90% increase in child malnutrition in the year from June 2021-2022, capturing the period following the collapse of the state and the majority of aid projects (number is partially inflated by the expansion of UNICEF programming to cover gaps left by other actors).
I don’t think it is controversial that there was too much money and way too much corruption in Afghanistan. Obviously, the state-building project failed. But “aid” in that environment covered such an extreme range of activity. I’ll be honest, it’s a sensitive personal topic, having lived there and given everything that since happened, but it does bother me to see “aid” as a whole written off when it includes such diverse activities as addressing child malnutrition and funding unaccountable quasi-police forces.
I think it is very difficult to argue that aid “didn’t work well” in Afghanistan when you look at any education or health metric. According to UNICEF there was a 90% increase in child malnutrition in the year from June 2021-2022, capturing the period following the collapse of the state and the majority of aid projects (number is partially inflated by the expansion of UNICEF programming to cover gaps left by other actors).
I don’t think it is controversial that there was too much money and way too much corruption in Afghanistan. Obviously, the state-building project failed. But “aid” in that environment covered such an extreme range of activity. I’ll be honest, it’s a sensitive personal topic, having lived there and given everything that since happened, but it does bother me to see “aid” as a whole written off when it includes such diverse activities as addressing child malnutrition and funding unaccountable quasi-police forces.