Canberra, January 29: AUSTRALIA last night announced $100 million in new civilian funding for Afghanistan, including $25m for a new fund to reward Taliban fighters who lay down their arms.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith unveiled the funding at an international conference in London as Western powers strived to revive the flagging process of stabilising Afghanistan.
The $100m commitment to civilian aid spending follows a six-month review of the government’s military, aid and diplomatic contributions to Afghanistan. Officials said the money would come from Australia’s existing aid budget but had not previously been allocated to Afghanistan.
One part of the package would be the dispatch of more Australian diplomats and other civilian workers to Kabul. Mr Smith told the conference of 70 nations and international bodies active in Afghanistan that while the US-led alliance in Afghanistan “has a mature military strategy in place, we have not had a corresponding and co-ordinated civilian and political effort, embracing development and capacity-building and political strategies to consolidate and build on security gains”.
“We cannot rely on military efforts alone,” he said.
The funding will include:
• $50m over three years for general development.
• $25m for the proposed Peace and Reintegration Trust Fund to offer Taliban fighters jobs, pensions and land if they lay down their arms.
• $20m for mine-clearance activity.
• $4m for Asia Foundation programs to support the Afghan Ministry of Agriculture to build capacity in the agricultural sector. l$1m for the Afghan Human Rights Commission to strengthen promotion and protection of human rights in Oruzgan province.
Mr Smith said the Australian donation to the fund for Taliban ex-fighters would be “subject to the establishment of appropriate governance arrangements and a role for substantial donors, such as Australia, in the administration of the fund”.