For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
January 28, 2002
Fact Sheet: Assisting People of Afghanistan
U.S. Programs to Assist the People of Afghanistan
On the occasion of the visit of Afghanistan Interim Authority (AIA)
Chairman Hamad Karzai, President Bush announces the programs which will
benefit from the initial U.S. pledge of $296.75 million in Tokyo for
Afghanistan's reconstruction. In addition, the President
announces a $50 million line of credit offered through the Overseas
Private Investment Corporation to finance qualified U.S. private sector
projects and up to $3 million in funding by the U.S. Department of
Labor for job generation programs. The President also
confirms that $223 million in previously frozen assets are being made
available to the AIA. The United States has played a leading
role in coordinating the international effort for Afghanistan's
reconstruction and has provided more aid to the people of Afghanistan
than any other individual country. U.S. programs are
detailed below:
Food Security and Health Assistance
- $84 million of USAID's International
Disaster Assistance and Development Assistance/Child Survival and
Health will be used to promote the following:
- Rehabilitating Agriculture (IDA) through
seed multiplication, agricultural inputs and livestock rehabilitation,
giving priority to areas of high poppy cultivation;
- Improving Health, by supporting the
Ministry of Health, the measles vaccination campaign, establishing a
health surveillance system, and expanding existing health care and drug
addiction treatment services;
- Livelihoods and Income Generation, via
agricultural rehabilitations and local community and private sector
development -- directed in April-May at diverting family and itinerant
labor from the spring opium harvest;
Creating Incentives for Stability
- Raid Mobilization of Education, by
printing and delivering nearly 10 million textbooks, mainly in science,
math and reading, in time for the official start of the Afghan school
year in March; providing teacher training and adult literacy materials;
and implementing vocational education programs;
- Institutional
Strengthening, by supporting the development of media capacity and
local NGO capacity, and providing support to the Bonn Agreement,
through direct assistance to develop the capacity of the Interim
Authority.
- The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
will provide $45 million in food aid, under its 416 (b) program, for
relief and recovery, including funding for programs to provide food to
students and teachers at school and workers on the job.
- $77 million, provided under P.L. 480 Title
II funding, will be devoted to helping Afghanistan in the transition
from relief to recovery activities. Food commodities will be
used to help rebuild critical systems in agriculture, education,
health, infrastructure, and employment. They will be
delivered through Food for Work and other such local, community-based
programs.
- $52.6 million in migration and refugee
assistance funds will be used to support the repatriation of Afghan
refugees and to support large numbers of returning refugees and
internally displaced persons through community-based health, education,
shelter, water, and sanitation projects.
- The U.S. Department of Labor, in
cooperation with the Afghan Ministry of Labor, will devote up to $3
million to implement job generation and technical assistance programs
in Afghanistan. These programs are designed to train
ex-combatants, women, and young adults to enter the economic mainstream
after a decade of economic deprivation.
- The private sector and USAID will partner
to provide rehabilitation programs for disabled individuals under the
Leahy War Victims Fund.
- The United States Government will foster
donations by the private sector of medical missions, such as fly-in
surgical teams to perform surgeries and ophthalmologists to provide eye
exams and eye glasses.
- The U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) and USAID will assist the Afghan Ministry of Health
through complementary programs to establish primary care community
clinics.
- $15 million will be devoted to
counternarcotics programs, initial law enforcement training,
development of a criminal code, promoting good governance and
democratic institutions.
- $7 million will be used for humanitarian
demining and mine awareness.
Financial, Trade, and Commercial Assistance
- The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank transferred
approximately $223 million in Afghanistan's previously frozen assets to
the Afghanistan Interim Authority.
- $17.25 million in Economic Support Funds
(ESF) will be used for short-term, high-impact projects possibly in the
political or security sectors.
- The Overseas Private Investment
Corporation (OPIC) will extend an initial $50 million line of credit to
finance qualified U.S. private sector projects in
Afghanistan. OPIC, with the U.S. Export-Import Bank and the
Trade and Development Agency, will lead an investment assessment
mission to Kabul in February 2002 to review with Afghan authorities
priorities for reconstruction and how those agencies' programs can help
mobilize U.S. private sector investment in Afghanistan.
- U.S. Department of Commerce will lead a
private sector mission to Afghanistan later in February to help
identify Afghanistan's investment needs and opportunities, particularly
in the electric power sector, for U.S. private sector participation in
reconstruction.
- The United States will provide the
$100,000 subscription fee for Afghanistan to become a member of the
World Bank's Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), so that
it can obtain political insurance for private investment.
People-to People Programs
- The U.S. Department of State will resume a
broad range of educational and cultural exchange programs, including
programs focused on education and training for women. The
International Visitor Program, in which Chairman Karzai participated in
1987, will be revived and will offer special programs targeting women
in the areas of health and curriculum development and
pedagogy. Fulbright specialists, participation in the
Humphrey program, and support for English teaching activities also will
be made available.
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