- Joined
- Jul 11, 2004
- Messages
- 1,179
- Points
- 103
Tories would give military key role in rebuilding Afghanistan
The Armed Forces would have an expanded role in reconstruction and development projects in Afghanistan under Conservative plans to give the military a lead in traditional civilian aid work.
On a visit to British troops in Helmand province yesterday, George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, and William Hague, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, said that a Conservative government would create a stabilisation and reconstruction force within the Army.
The unit would carry out quick-impact aid work and infrastructure projects in the immediate aftermath of fighting, such as building bridges, repairing power supplies and supporting local government in conflict zones.
Details of how the force would be configured had still to be decided, although Tory officials envisaged a role for the Territorial Army, calling on the skills of its builders, engineers and lawyers without the need to give them the extra security that civilian aid workers require.
The plans will alarm the Department for International Development (DfID) created by Tony Blair in 1997, not only because of the implied criticism of its work in Afghanistan. Mr Osborne and Mr Hague have left open the possibility of drawing on DfID funding to finance the force.
Douglas Alexander, the Development Secretary, defended DfID’s record last night. “The highly praised provincial reconstruction team operating in Helmand already brings together military and civilian support in delivering a comprehensive approach to stabilisation,” he told The Times.
“This team brings together DfID, FCO (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) and military personnel and is doing outstanding work. The Government has also acted to introduce a 1,000-strong stabilisation cadre that was delivered last year.”
Vicky Hawkins, of Médecins Sans Frontières, said: “We secure access to very tricky parts of the world because of civilians understanding that we are not military. Where military sell themselves as humanitarians it is very, very problematic.”
Mr Osborne said that the proposed force could draw on the existing £269 million Afghanistan Stabilisation Fund and could also receive funding from the international aid budget. The terms and financing of the force will be decided by the Strategic Defence Review after the election.
“We need to go even further in making sure that, as a country, we can contribute rapidly and in full measure to stabilisation operations — in the golden hours after the intense fighting stops, when the battle for hearts and minds must still be won, and when we have struggled to deliver reconstruction and development aid with the speed required,” Mr Hague said.
Senior military officers have been calling for a stabilisation brigade, having grown frustrated by what they see as the failure of aid agencies to rebuild the economy in Afghanistan.
In private, they complain that development officials spend too much time and money on civil society initiatives, rather than investing in local infrastructure and jobs.
RECONSTRUCTION
The Bolan Park for Women was completed in Lashkar Gah in 2007 at a cost of £420,000 to the British taxpayer. It included a Ferris wheel in an area where many even lack running water. In the conservative Pashtun area, women mostly stay at home
The mosque in Musa Qala was destroyed by the British when they besieged the town in 2006 and has not been rebuilt, despite promises it would be a priority. Taleban attacks have made it too difficult to transport materials
In 2008 the National Audit Office found that during a three-year period when the Department for International Development spent £20m on an counter-narcotics programme, opium production continued to rise. DfID-funded wells ran dry because geological surveys were not carried out
In 2009 DfID concluded that “for every $100 spent only $20 actually reaches Afghan recipients. Between 15 and 30 per cent of aid is spent on security for agencies”
DfID spent £143m in Afghanistan in 2008-09, making Britain the second-largest donor after the US
Sources: Times research, DfID, National Audit Office
The Armed Forces would have an expanded role in reconstruction and development projects in Afghanistan under Conservative plans to give the military a lead in traditional civilian aid work.
On a visit to British troops in Helmand province yesterday, George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, and William Hague, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, said that a Conservative government would create a stabilisation and reconstruction force within the Army.
The unit would carry out quick-impact aid work and infrastructure projects in the immediate aftermath of fighting, such as building bridges, repairing power supplies and supporting local government in conflict zones.
Details of how the force would be configured had still to be decided, although Tory officials envisaged a role for the Territorial Army, calling on the skills of its builders, engineers and lawyers without the need to give them the extra security that civilian aid workers require.
The plans will alarm the Department for International Development (DfID) created by Tony Blair in 1997, not only because of the implied criticism of its work in Afghanistan. Mr Osborne and Mr Hague have left open the possibility of drawing on DfID funding to finance the force.
Douglas Alexander, the Development Secretary, defended DfID’s record last night. “The highly praised provincial reconstruction team operating in Helmand already brings together military and civilian support in delivering a comprehensive approach to stabilisation,” he told The Times.
“This team brings together DfID, FCO (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) and military personnel and is doing outstanding work. The Government has also acted to introduce a 1,000-strong stabilisation cadre that was delivered last year.”
Vicky Hawkins, of Médecins Sans Frontières, said: “We secure access to very tricky parts of the world because of civilians understanding that we are not military. Where military sell themselves as humanitarians it is very, very problematic.”
Mr Osborne said that the proposed force could draw on the existing £269 million Afghanistan Stabilisation Fund and could also receive funding from the international aid budget. The terms and financing of the force will be decided by the Strategic Defence Review after the election.
“We need to go even further in making sure that, as a country, we can contribute rapidly and in full measure to stabilisation operations — in the golden hours after the intense fighting stops, when the battle for hearts and minds must still be won, and when we have struggled to deliver reconstruction and development aid with the speed required,” Mr Hague said.
Senior military officers have been calling for a stabilisation brigade, having grown frustrated by what they see as the failure of aid agencies to rebuild the economy in Afghanistan.
In private, they complain that development officials spend too much time and money on civil society initiatives, rather than investing in local infrastructure and jobs.
RECONSTRUCTION
The Bolan Park for Women was completed in Lashkar Gah in 2007 at a cost of £420,000 to the British taxpayer. It included a Ferris wheel in an area where many even lack running water. In the conservative Pashtun area, women mostly stay at home
The mosque in Musa Qala was destroyed by the British when they besieged the town in 2006 and has not been rebuilt, despite promises it would be a priority. Taleban attacks have made it too difficult to transport materials
In 2008 the National Audit Office found that during a three-year period when the Department for International Development spent £20m on an counter-narcotics programme, opium production continued to rise. DfID-funded wells ran dry because geological surveys were not carried out
In 2009 DfID concluded that “for every $100 spent only $20 actually reaches Afghan recipients. Between 15 and 30 per cent of aid is spent on security for agencies”
DfID spent £143m in Afghanistan in 2008-09, making Britain the second-largest donor after the US
Sources: Times research, DfID, National Audit Office
