Eight humanitarian organisations urged world powers Wednesday to rethink their policies on using the military to provide aid in Afghanistan, ahead of a major Afghan conference in London.
Foreign military efforts to "win hearts and minds" through investment in development are often poorly executed and less sustainable than civilian projects — and risk putting ordinary Afghans at risk, they said.
"The militarization of aid is putting ordinary people on the frontlines of the conflict," said a joint report from ActionAid, Afghanaid, Care, Christian Aid, Trocaire, Oxfam, Concern Worldwide and the Norwegian Refugee Council.
"Afghans say that the military places them at greater risk when they build schools and clinics which then become targets of armed opposition groups."
According to the report, the Afghan government estimates that international forces have already spent 1.7 billion dollars on aid in Afghanistan, and the US military alone has budgeted an additional one billion dollars this year.
But the agencies warn that "far too much" of this is focused on short-term activities driven by political pressures to show results, while it was often distributed by proximity to troop deployments rather than humanitarian need.
"There are no 'quick fixes' in Afghanistan and nobody should be cutting corners — the people here deserve better," said Ashley Jackson, head of policy for Oxfam International in Afghanistan.
"Afghan people have coped with decades of grinding poverty, conflict and disorder and need real, long-term solutions."
Foreign ministers including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will attend a 60-nation conference on Afghanistan in London on Thursday, aimed at boosting the domestic security forces there and tackling corruption.
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