Lots of fanfare, billions of dollars spent and not much to show. When donor countries meet in Kabul this week, from today to Wednesday, President Hamid Karzai's new government will plead for more control over the purse strings in order to inject pace into economic reconstruction, involve more Afghan firms and prioritize infrastructure and poverty reduction programs.On the eve of the Afghanistan Development Forum, Karzai issued a stinging rebuke to non-government organizations (NGOs) "for squandering the precious resources that Afghanistan received in aid from the international community." The president met ambassadors and representatives of the United Nations and donor countries to explain why the cabinet gave its blessing last week to a draft law barring NGOs from tendering for government projects. The government said yesterday it had agreed to set up a joint task force with donors to review policy toward NGOs. "We had a responsibility toward the Afghan people, as well as the taxpayers in the donor countries, to stop NGOs that are corrupt, wasteful and unaccountable," he said, while also praising the "good work" of those NGOs serving the country's development and humanitarian needs.