I believe prior to the US attacking Afghanistan and the former Taliban
government, there were promises made as to how much financial aid the
US would be willing to give to help Afghanistan following the war.

My impression is that those promises have been defaulted on, but I
don't know.  I heard a comment from a friend who works for a gov't
agency that congress has "virtually no money" in next years budget for
Afghanistan reconstruction.

The Question Is:
How do the US's promises of aid (with references) compare to the
fulfillement of those promises (with reference), including next year's
proposed congressional budget?

Hi! Thanks for the interesting question.

I was able to find the following reports that discusses the aid flow
for Afghanistan.

In a February 13, 2003 report by BBC News, it has been reported that
the White House did not include aid to Afghanistan in its proposed
budget. However during that time the Bush administration said it was
too early to include it in the budget since they haven't figured out
how much money to request from Congress.

"The United States Congress has stepped in to find nearly $300m in
humanitarian and reconstruction funds for Afghanistan after the Bush
administration failed to request any money in its latest budget."

"A spokesman for the US Agency for International Development, which
distributes the money, says the reason they did not make a request was
that when budgetary discussions began in 2002, it was too early to say
how much money they would need."

"Afghanistan omitted from US aid budget"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2759789.stm

During the war against Iraq however, the US requested for a $75
billion budget for the war. The budget includes a $400 million dollar
aid for Afghanistan. The figures for the aid to different countries
can be seen on the side bar of the article.

"Bush sends $75bn bill for war"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2882681.stm

Our next link provides the promises made by the US and the aid flow
for Afghanistan in 2002.

"US$5.2 billion1 was pledged to the reconstruction process of
Afghanistan at
the International Conference for Reconstruction Assistance to
Afghanistan in Tokyo in January 2002 – US$3.8 billion as grant money
and US$1.4 billion as potential loans."

"In addition to the above pledge, fifteen donors have made a further
US$0.7 billion grant money available. Updated total grant pledges for
the reconstruction efforts of Afghanistan hence amount to US$4.47
billion."

"Commitments: Of the promises made, so far almost all the US$2.1
billion grant money pledged as well as US$0.26 billion loans have been
committed (firmly agreed) for specific projects."

"Disbursements: Approximately 88 percent of the grant money pledged
for the period has been disbursed. This amounts to US$1.84 billion
grants. Of the loans made available only 30 percent or US$0.1 billion
has been taken up by the Government and disbursed."

"In terms of percentages, the disbursement rate against promises is
high. However, in comparison with other recent post-conflict settings,
disbursements per capita are low. And, it should be noted that whilst
the rate of disbursement has been high, a significant amount of these
funds have been used to meet humanitarian and relief needs leaving
fundamental reconstruction efforts neglected."

"Analysis of Aid Flows to Afghanistan"
http://www.afghanistangov.org/resources/mof/adf-ahsf-artf/Aid_Analysis-with_graphs.pdf
(PDF file)

http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache:WdpBAHQ9cf4J:www.afghanistangov.org/resources/mof/adf-ahsf-artf/Aid_Analysis-with_graphs.pdf+US+budget+%22afghanistan+aid%22+2003&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
(HTML version)


Search terms used:       
US budget "afghanistan aid" 2003
           
I hope these links would help you in your research. Before rating this
answer, please ask for a clarification if you have a question or if  
you would need further information.  
           
Thanks for visiting us.            
           
Regards,            
Easterangel-ga            
Google Answers Researcher

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Request for Answer Clarification by ken3141-ga on 28 Jun 2003 05:08 PDT

One quick clarification: I didn't see any mention of any pre-war
promises for monetary aid... that may because there were no specific
promises, but I seem to recall that there were hard and fast monetary
promises in aid amounts.  (kinda like that Iraq war budget request
reference that you found, a "before the war" request.  Was there a
similar thing for Afghanistan, and what was the reconstruction amount?

---

Clarification of Answer by easterangel-ga on 28 Jun 2003 05:51 PDT

Hi again ken3141-ga and thanks for asking a clarification. However,
since you have already rated my answer you cannot change it anymore.
Anyway here is the info I found.

The pre-war promised aid for Afghanistan by the US was $320 million.

"On October 4, President Bush pledged another $320 million for
humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, apart from the already
millions of dollars provided prior to the attacks on September 11th.  
About 2.5 million humanitarian rations have already been dropped to
aid the people of Afghanistan.   Friendship Bridge between Afghanistan
and Uzbekistan has been  reopened to transport humanitarian aid by
land and  minefields and roads are being cleared to ensure delivery of
aid and freedom of movement."

"Operation Enduring Freedom"
http://www.eucom.mil/Directorates/ECPA/index.htm?http://www.eucom.mil/Directorates/ECPA/Operations/oef/oef.htm&2


I also found this other report, which planned to give $600 million
dollars in aid to Afghanistan before the war. It will come not only
from the US but from different countries.

"The United States joined United Nations agencies October 6 in
expressing satisfaction with the outcome of a two day meeting on
humanitarian aid for Afghanistan during which donors announced some
$600 million in new funds."

"Afghan Forum: Donors Promise $600 Million in New Aid"
http://usinfo.state.gov/topical/pol/terror/01100603.htm


The reconstruction amount promised to Afghanistan meanwhile was $4.5
billion and it will not come from the US alone but through the
contributions of other countries as well.

"Foreign donors are failing to pay a promised $4.5bn aid package aimed
at rebuilding Afghanistan, the country's reconstruction minister has
claimed. "

"Aid donors 'failing Afghanistan'"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1970941.stm

Best Regards,
Easterangel-ga

If you can answer the clarification, I'll change it to a 5 star
rating. Perhaps I wasn't clear enough in my initial question, but I
was interested in the prewar pomise prior to removing the Taliban from
power.  Otherwise, great job.