KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - The Canadian International Development Agency opened the floodgates of funding Tuesday, pumping millions of dollars into irrigation and canal reconstruction programs in rural Kandahar province.
But precisely how much the federal development office is contributing became a matter of confusion for the agency which has been maligned for not contributing enough to the rebuilding effort in this war-torn region.
At a contract-signing ceremony with village leaders from across the province, Afghanistan's minister of rural rehabilitation and development, Mohammad Ehsan Zia, thanked donor nations Canada and the United States for contributing what he said was C$31.8 million and $5.9 million respectively.
"We already have $18 million at our disposal to be spent in the next few months in the province of Kandahar and if security permits, then donor countries and the State of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is willing to spend more money on development projects in the province,'' Zia said in English during his statement.
But later in the day, a CIDA representative contradicted the minister, saying the Canadian contribution would only be $3.1 million.
"It is just a matter of language,'' said Helene Kadi, a CIDA development officer at the provincial reconstruction base. "It was a typo.''
The Americans -- through USAID -- would provide C$500,000, she said.
No representatives of the Canadian government -- CIDA or otherwise -- were present at the announcement, which was made in the basement of the Kandahar governor's meeting hall.
They weren't invited by Afghan officials, Kadi explained.
The slip-up is another illustration of the befuddlement that seems to be gripping the reconstruction effort during this critical winter window of calm as Taliban militants rest and regroup in Pakistan.
CIDA claims it has -- or is about to -- spend as much as $65 million on myriad redevelopment initiatives. Yet until lately there have been very few visible signs of that investment, almost one year after Canadian troops deployed to the volatile southern region of the country in a mission that was only to be partially about defence.
Zia said the Canadians put no conditions on where this latest money is to be spent, but he assured western journalists, who asked about accusations of rampant corruption within the Afghan government, that nothing would go missing.
"I am ready to take a dozen Canadian journalists now and show them where the money is spent,'' he insisted.
"We are making sure the money the Canadian government has given us for Kandahar will be spent on Kandahar, and will be spent in consultation and through active participation with the people of Kandahar.''
Work on repairing the vital agricultural network of springs, ditches and canals, which nourish this arid landscape, has already started in three districts, Zhari, Daman and Maywand, said Kadi.
While Zhari and Daman -- both just outside of Kandahar -- are considered secure, the Canadian army still considers the western district of Maywand to be Taliban territory.
Zai said new irrigation projects will be started in the districts of Khakrez, Panjwaii and Spinboldak.
In total he expects the restoration work to put 2,860 chronically unemployed Afghans to work for 30 days.
Haji-Noor Mohammed, a village elder from Zangabad, southwest of Kandahar, welcomed the funding, but cautioned it was only a first step.
He said the envelope of money for his village will only reclaim about 20 per cent of the waterway system, which was largely wrecked by fighting last fall between Taliban militants and Canadian soldiers during Operation Medusa.
During the first week of January, Afghan rural ministry officials fanned out across all 17 districts in the province, surveying the needs of battle-shattered and neglected villages. Consulting with local elders, they identified 653 projects, of which 135 are now under contract for repair.
The agreements were signed with so-called District Development Assemblies, which are essentially a collection of tribal elders and community leaders.
Approximately 90 per cent of the signed contracts are for irrigation projects, which international groups say are critical if Afghan farmers are to grow anything more than opium-producing poppies.
Zai warned Tuesday that continued foreign donations would depend on how successful Afghans are in rejecting the illegal drug trade.
