Afghan transition raises questions over aid focus 02/19/2011

Afghan transition raises questions over aid

focus

02/19/2011
MEHTAR LAM — With its busy stalls selling everything from floral garlands to solar panels, the market in Mehtar Lam is proof of what Western-backed aid projects can do in Afghanistan, officials say.

Halfway between Kabul and the Pakistani border, where the Taliban have rear bases, the strategically important town in the eastern province of Laghman is seen as relatively safe, although insurgents lurk in nearby hills and valleys.

Like 27 other towns across the country, Mehtar Lam has a Western-led provincial reconstruction team (PRT) working on projects such as roads, which officials say stimulate market trade, and even artificial cattle insemination.

But with Nato troops due to hand control of security to Afghan forces by 2014, President Hamid Karzai said this month that PRTs must leave because they are hampering Afghanistan’s efforts to improve governance for itself..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110219com3.html