Afghanistan donor spending practices "shameful":UN

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By Jonathon Burch

KABUL, July 6 (Reuters) - The United Nations in Afghanistan urged international donors on Monday to improve aid coordination by channelling more money through the Afghan government and sharply criticised donors who do not declare their spending.

Afghanistan relies on international aid for 90 percent of its spending as it tries to rebuild state institutions shattered by nearly 30 years of war and at the same time fight off a renewed Taliban insurgency.

Many Afghans are growing increasingly frustrated at the slow pace of development, endemic corruption and the inability of Afghan and international security forces to stop the violence.

"All of us ... have a long way to go on donor coordination," Mark Ward, U.N. special adviser on development in Afghanistan, told a news conference in Kabul.

"The donors are spending 2 out of every 3 dollars outside the government's budget, which makes it much harder to ensure that their programmes are supporting the government's priorities."

An estimated one third of all aid money spent outside the government budget, Ward said, was not even submitted into a finance ministry database set up by the donors themselves.

"Believe it or not, some donors don't even tell the government what they're spending," he said.

Ward said the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan regarded this as "shameful" and applauded the government for publicly identifying donors who do not report their spending.

The U.S. military will have more than doubled the number of its troops in Afghanistan in a year to about 68,000 by the end of 2009. Washington is also boosting the number of civilian experts it sends as part of an effort to implement President Barack Obama's counter-insurgency strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Ward said the Afghan government will present a new technical assistance plan to international donors in Kabul this week aimed at changing the way foreign experts are used in the country.

According to the plan, foreign experts would fill positions requested by the Afghan government and would be answerable to an Afghan official.

"They will be far more effective in Afghanistan because they will speak the language. They will understand the culture. They will not need a lot of security and they will stay longer," Ward said, without giving details of where they would come from.

Ward urged donors to support the government's new plan and said some had already indicated they would fund it. He also urged them to stop bringing in foreign companies and contractors and choose Afghans instead.

(Editing by Paul Tait)