KUALA LUMPUR - Muslim countries, including oil-rich Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and the Islamic Development Bank are doing little to help in the reconstruction of war-ravaged Afghanistan, a senior minister from that country said on Friday.Kuwait has yet to give any financial support while the money given by Saudi Arabia and the IDB is mostly in loans not grants, Afghan Finance Minister Anwar ul-haq was quoted as saying by the national Bernama news agency. Haq is in Kuala Lumpur to attend an IDB governor's meeting that ends Friday. "Saudi Arabia pledged US$200 million but they are all in loans," Haq told Bernama. "Kuwait is yet to give financial support nor other Muslim nations."
Anwar also criticized the Islamic Development Bank, the lending arm of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, or OIC, for allocating only US$70 million for the reconstruction efforts over a three-year period. Most of the money has still not reached the Afghan people. "... less than 1 percent is grants and so far only 5 percent of the fund has been disbursed," Haq said.
| Funny, the OIC books show the money's all been spent ... |