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U.S. eyes options for Afghanistan after Congress cuts aid

pakistani342

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Well, common sense seems to be setting in - Sharper than expected cut in Afghan Assistance. Cut by 50% -- thank you Congress for curbing the waste of our hard earned tax money!!!

The story on Reuters here, excerpts below:

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(Reuters) - The Obama administration is considering ways to ensure future financial assistance for Afghanistan after U.S. lawmakers halved development aid to the country.

In a massive spending bill signed into law on Friday by President Barack Obama, lawmakers provided $1.12 billion to Afghanistan for fiscal 2014 for overall civilian assistance, a 50 percent reduction from the previous fiscal year. It was still unclear, however, how much aid the country would actually receive for 2014.

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>>>Oh and, to our friends who think that US money is not fungible:<<<

U.S. officials said they were looking at the details of the bill, and would also explore if they could use unspent money from the previous year or from elsewhere in the budget to increase the amount of funding for Afghanistan.

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A major cut in U.S. assistance could endanger plans to continue health, education, farmingand other aid programs in the desperately poor country. It could also stoke uncertainty as the United States and other NATO countries move to end their long war in Afghanistan, and as Washington seeks an agreement that would permit some U.S. forces to stay there beyond 2014.

>>>So much for pledges -- the US had indicated $2 billion a year -- the US cannot commit to multiyear commitments due to the budgetary process -- well we're at 1/2 that<<<

The reduction sends a signal to other donor nations, which gathered in Tokyo in 2012 to announce their intentions to provide aid to Afghanistan for years to come. While the United States did not pledge a specific amount for future aid, it promised to seek aid near current levels of just over $2 billion at least through 2015.





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