Billions in foreign aid a mixed blessing for Afghanistan (Dear Pickles,..)

[Rose Siding]

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) -- Gynaecololgist Daud Shah says he can no longer afford any staff to work at Kandahar's Mirwais Hospital and so the medical treatment for women is now worse than under the Taliban.

Foreign aid agencies have driven up wages, he says -- 800 U.S. dollars a month for a local position at United Nations agencies compared with 50 dollars for a nurse at a government hospital in the southern Afghan city.

"We've gone backwards. We used to have 20 female staff and now we have two because we can't afford to pay them," he tells AFP at the run-down hospital's obstetrics department.

The Afghan government asked for more control of the aid budget, amid public resentment at foreign workers whom they see driving shiny sports utility vehicles while most of the population lives on less than two dollars a day.
.....
Foreign donors said that Karzai's three-month-old government cannot yet handle the massive flow of cash, while ministries are poorly staffed and officials are often inexperienced or corrupt.

http://www.myafghan.com/news2.asp?id=1141400022