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YES, THERE is a war; we need to take out Osama bin Laden's gang and
other terrorist groups as best we can. What they did almost gives a new
definition to evil. Even as we treat the symptoms of terrorism, we must
have as our goal curing the disease: the grinding poverty, lack of
education, hopelessness and instability in much of the world. And we must
do so by promoting private sector economic growth.
After World War II, Secretary of State George C. Marshall argued that
this was the best way to advance the security of the United States:
"Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine but
against hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos. Its purpose should be the
revival of a working economy in the world."
This is a far-sighted approach, one which we would do well to consider
today.
When I was in Afghanistan in the mid-1970s, the Peace Corps and USAID
had useful projects, and Americans were well thought of. Yet, following the
withdrawal of Soviet forces in 1988-89, Afghanistan was abandoned to a
policy of neglect, despite its clear need. The country had a per capita income
of less than $1 per day and a shockingly low literacy rate that has since
dropped to below 20 percent (less than 10 percent for women). Since 1989,
U.S. foreign aid to Afghanistan has fallen to an average of only $17
million per year, still making the United States its largest donor, but
hardly providing enough to rebuild the country after a decade of war.
This has left the country susceptible to the extreme beliefs of the
Taliban and al Qaeda. Now, military operations and emergency humanitarian
assistance in Afghanistan are expected to cost the United States $1 billion
a month, for a year or more.
We need to break out of this pattern of neglect. Currently, about 2.8
billion people, almost half the world's population, live on less than $2 a
day.
During the next 25 years, the world will add another 2 billion
inhabitants, of which 90 percent will be in developing countries.
Despite this looming explosion of world poverty, the U.S. government's
foreign aid has shrunk to $15 billion a year, or less than 1 percent of the
annual federal budget. U.S. aid is a fraction of what it was in the past:
Adjusted for inflation, U.S. aid was $33 billion in 1965 and $68 billion
in 1949 during the Marshall Plan. The United States has been replaced as
the world's largest aid donor by Japan, which has a Gross National Product
one- half the size of our own. Skimping on foreign aid, though, is a false
economy. It costs the United States far more in the long run to ignore the
problems of developing countries.
At the same time, the multinational institutions concerned with aid, the
World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and others,
have declined in importance as the problems have escalated. In many cases,
these well-meaning institutions have become ineffective bureaucracies.
Today, we need to fight another war. We need a new and reinvigorated
multinational commitment to help the poorest, most unstable countries. Our
efforts should refocus on the private sector, for without economic growth,
poverty levels will remain too high. We also need to right the collapse of
civil society in these countries by promoting more democratic institutions,
rooting out corruption and ensuring an educated populace.
Surprisingly, these goals are achievable. According to the UNDP, in the
next decade, we could provide basic education, basic health and nutrition,
and water and sanitation for all people in the world who lack it. The price
tag for eradicating the basic social problems that underlie world poverty,
$40 billion per year for 10 years, is well within the capabilities of the
developed nations. As a percentage of GNP, this amount is half what the
United States spent during the Marshall Plan.
So, what should we do? We need a new and greatly expanded effort by the
developed countries to help the less fortunate. At home, we need to:
1) Quickly evaluate our own foreign aid programs for their effectiveness
and push for reforms to improve the effectiveness of the World Bank and the
United Nations. Foreign aid can be effective, so long as it avoids corrupt
governments and focuses on the private sector and civil society.
2) Increase U.S. foreign aid from $15 billion, or 0.1 percent of GNP, to
a much higher number, with a focus on encouraging local self-development.
3) Channel more aid through the nongovernmental organizations that
specialize in expanding the private sector, improving education and
bringing about democratic reforms and the rule of law.
4) Coordinate these activities with other major donor nations and
encourage them to expand their budgets proportionately.
5) Get serious about debt forgiveness to the poor nations that are not
going to be able to pay off their loans anyway.
6) Establish a global fund for education. If children learn only from
religious fanatics, they will undoubtedly continue to have a very distorted
view of the Western world.
How long will this war on poverty and ignorance last? We should resolve
to halve the number of people who live in poverty by 2015 (a goal endorsed
by the United Nations, the World Bank and the OECD) and to bring education,
a reasonable standard of living and opportunity to all the disenfranchised
on our planet. Costly, you bet. But less costly than the proposed missile
defense system. And what price will we pay if we ignore these issues?
Richard C. Blum is the chairman of Blum Capital Partners in San
Francisco, founder of the American Himalayan Foundation, co-chair of the
World Conference on Religion and Peace and a trustee of the Carter Center.
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