Humanitarian and Reconstruction Assistance to Afghanistan, 2001-05: A Joint Evaluation from Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK

After the US-led Coalition of the Willing's attack on Afghanistan in 2001 and up to mid-2004 Afghanistan received close to Euro 3.2 billion in total of humanitarian and development aid to rebuild the country. Of this, 25 % came from five bilateral donors: the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Ireland. In 2004 the five donors decided to commission a joint evaluation of their aid programmes 2001-2005. It was commissioned to a consortium led by Chr. Michelsen Institute, Norway, contracted by Danida's Evaluation Department on behalf of the five donors.

The donor's support to Afghanistan was a multi-dimensional intervention combining the objectives of development co-operation with broad foreign and domestic policy objectives, where the donors also aimed at supporting Afghanistan's new start through putting into place a new and democratically elected government and market economy. The findings of this evaluation regarding a range of central issues can serve as lessons learnt in the process of developing adequate answers to the new challenges.

Chapter 7 on "meeting the basic needs and securing livelihoods" stresses particularly the importance of mine action to reduce mine casualties and to support the recovery of the Afghan economy, which lies to a large extent on the agricultural sector.