Canada’s Afghan aid legacy under fire

Is Canada’s aid legacy in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province living up to the high hopes it raised? Not to hear some longsuffering residents tell it. They complain that key projects in the Taliban insurgency’s heartland haven’t made the material difference in their lives that they had been led to expect. People worry that the flow of water from the partly restored Dahla Dam and its irrigation canals may dry up over the summer, and they point to decrepit school buildings, the Star’s Paul Watson found on a recent tour. His series of reports in the Saturday and Sunday papers raise questions about the long-term sustainability of high-profile “signature” Canadian aid projects into which Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government has sunk $70 million or more. And chillingly, Watson writes in today’s paper that despite Canadian efforts to help shore up the justice system, some Afghans are so disillusioned with official corruption that they are turning back to tribal courts and even to the Taliban for redress. Granted, the Kandahar projects are merely part of Canada’s broader $2 billion aid program in Afghanistan over the past decade. That aid is credited with helping to reduce water losses in the Dahla system and with boosting key crop yields, with sending 8 million children including millions of girls to school and with vaccinating more than a million against polio, among other major gains. Looking ahead, Ottawa intends to provide $227 million more through 2017 for mother and child health care, schooling and human rights. But as Watson discovered, the silt-choked Dahla Dam reservoir and its irrigation system still need major work. Some of the 52 schools we built or renovated show signs of shoddy construction. And the legal system remains weak despite our push to train judges and lawyers. It’s too early to take the view that we have “moved on.” Nothing is easy in Afghanistan. The insurgency plus corruption and waste have dogged projects, limiting the hoped-for benefits in terms of local development, security and stability. Afghanistan is a harsh aid environment, and gains can soon be reversed. But even so, Canada ought to acknowledge residual ownership for “signature” projects that have yet to fully deliver. Rather than declare mission accomplished, Ottawa should face up to the problems and pool funds with our American and other allies to help the Afghans finish what we have begun. There’s still plenty to do.