End "militarization" of Afghan aid, agencies say

KABUL (Reuters) - Too much aid for Afghanistan is being channeled through foreign militaries who try to win over ordinary Afghans with "quick fixes" instead of tackling the root causes of poverty, aid groups said on Wednesday.

In a report released on Wednesday, British charity Oxfam and seven other foreign aid groups called on international leaders attending a conference on the war-torn country in London on Thursday to change the way they carried out development.

"Far too much aid has focused on "quick fixes" and band-aid approaches rather than on what will produce positive and lasting results for Afghans over the long term," the report, entitled "The Dangers of Militarised Aid in Afghanistan", said.

"The militarized aid approach is not working for Afghans. As leaders from 70 nations gather in London to debate the future of Afghanistan, we urge them to revaluate this approach to development and reconstruction."

After three decades of war, Afghanistan remains one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world, now ranking only second to sub-Saharan Niger at the bottom of the world''s human development rankings, the report said.

On top of that, more than 2,400 civilians were killed last year, a 14 percent rise on 2008, according to the United Nations, making 2009 the deadliest year since U.S.-backed Afghan forces ousted the Taliban in late 2001.

The report also said there was increasing evidence military involvement in development efforts was putting Afghan lives at risk as these projects became the targets of insurgent attacks.

Civilians were also being put at risk through military programs aimed at extracting information from ordinary Afghans by offering cash or food incentives, the report said.

"Offering food and other aid in exchange for information in a country where a third of the population is at risk of hunger is not only unethical, it puts Afghans in potential danger of being targeted by anti-government groups," it said.

The report calls on foreign countries with troops in Afghanistan to establish a plan to gradually phase out military Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRT) and focus instead on providing security and reforming the Afghan security forces.

PRTs carry out reconstruction projects and are made up of joint civil-military personnel. They have been criticized in the past for blurring the lines between military and humanitarian efforts.