09/25/2008

News / United States-Afghanistan Strategic Partnership

The United States is committed to an enduring partnership with Afghanistan. The U.S.-Afghanistan Strategic Partnership is based on the shared interests of the two countries in enhancing the long-term security, democracy, and prosperity of Afghanistan.

The United States is the leading donor to Afghanistan and has provided increasing amounts of security, reconstruction, governance, and humanitarian assistance since 2001. Total U.S. security and development assistance appropriated for Afghanistan since 2001 is approximately $31.9 billion. U.S. assistance supports priority needs identified in the Afghanistan Compact and the new, five-year Afghanistan National Development Strategy.

HIGHLIGHTS OF U.S. ASSISTANCE TO AFGHANISTAN

Governance

* Provided voter registration, education, and logistical assistance in support of the successful 2004 presidential and 2005 parliamentary elections. The U.S. plans to fund a similar percentage of the cost for 2009 presidential and 2010 parliamentary elections.
* Established Afghanistan’s first full-service law library at the National Legal Training Center.
* Trained over 950 judges and virtually all members of Parliament, legislative drafters, provincial counselors, and journalists.
* Providing $94.6 million to support the Afghan Independent Directorate of Local Governance’s (IDLG) Strategic Work Plan. These funds will be used to bring the Afghan government closer to the people through construction of more than twenty new district centers, rehabilitation of over fifty provincial and district offices, and establishment of seventeen Jirga halls and training centers.
* Providing $8.5 million to support the central structure of Afghanistan’s Independent Directorate for Local Governance as well as planned support for two IDLG programs: the Afghan Social Outreach Program and the Governor’s Performance Fund.

Prosperity

* Built or rehabilitated approximately 2,700 kilometers of roads, including 715 kilometers of the Ring Road, as well as national highways, and provincial and rural roads.
* Disbursed over 28,000 micro-finance loans.
* Constructed or refurbished more than 680 schools, and trained 65,000 teachers through radio broadcasts and 10,500 teachers through accelerated training programs.
* Since October 2007 the U.S. has contributed 193,160 tons of food and commodities worth $205.2 million to improve food security in Afghanistan.

Security

* Provided over $10 billion of assistance since 2001 for the development of the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police.
* The Afghan National Army is one of the most trusted institutions in Afghanistan and has made great progress since 2001. In September 2008, the Joint Coordination Monitoring Board meeting in Kabul endorsed the Afghan Government’s request to expand the Afghan National Army to 134,000 soldiers (including a 12,000- soldier pool for transients and trainees). This expansion is in line with our long-term objective of ensuring that the Afghan National Army can eventually provide security for the country.
* The U.S. and the Afghan Ministry of Interior, along with our Allies and international partners, have made great progress in building capacity and instituting reform within the Afghan National Police. The Focused District Development program began in early 2008 and is the cornerstone of this effort to retrain and reform the police on a district-by-district basis. The U.S. also is working on a new program to train and equip the Afghan Border Police.

Counternarcotics

* Twenty-nine Afghan provinces have earned $38 million in Good Performers Initiative Assistance in 2008; including $10 million to Nangahar Province. This assistance will go directly to provinces that have given up poppy cultivation.
* Established 27 mosque-based outreach/aftercare centers (with future plans for an additional 14) to support demand reduction efforts within Afghanistan.
* In 2008, Counternarcotics Advisory Teams will convene more than 100 “shuras” with opinion leaders in 25 provinces in a public information campaign to discourage poppy growing.
* In the first six months of 2008, the U.S.-supported Afghan Criminal Justice Task Force registered seizures of 944 kg of heroin, 61,500 kg of opium, 265,326 kg of hashish, and 18,944 kg of precursor materials.
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2008/sept/110245.htm

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