According to an e-mail written and distributed by InterAction on Dec. 11 to its various members, which include Doctors Without Borders, CARE and Save the Children, a vast scramble for primacy has broken out among the United Nations, the World Bank and U.S. government agencies such as USAID. The e-mail states that “competition” among the various agencies has caused a rush of meetings, all held with “little serious preparation and almost no NGO consultation.” Still, decisions have been made at the various meetings, in Washington, Islamabad and Bonn; InterAction contends that these decisions will limit the types of activities in which NGOs can participate in Afghanistan and also affect local NGO funding. A senior U.N. official involved in the aid process admitted there are problems that need to be resolved. “The Afghans are good at playing off one agency against another. The only way to avoid that is to get everyone in line,” he told NEWSWEEK. Afghanistan has enough infighting of its own not to have to deal with the squabbles of its “rescuers.” Let’s hope the major donors learn to better coordinate their efforts when they meet in Japan in January. Otherwise they risk taking on characteristics more befitting an Afghan warlord.
