Prime Minister Stephen Harper will announce about $200 million in reconstruction aid for Afghanistan in an effort to demonstrate that Canada's mission there is making a positive difference in people's lives.

As Canada marks the official one-year anniversary this week of its mission in Kandahar, government sources say the prime minister will make the announcement Monday at an event on Parliament Hill.

An Australian soldier in a wooden hut under construction in Afghanistan in February. The Australians approach reconstruction at the local level, conducting backyard blitzes where they build or refurbish structures for citizens.
(Murray Brewster/Canadian Press)

It comes in the final phase of a frosty Afghan winter, and a relative peace that's expected to melt over the coming weeks as pro-Taliban fighters descend from the mountains to resume their bloody insurgency.

Before what may mean more dispiriting images of flag-draped coffins return to Canadian television sets, the prime minister hopes to remind the country of the more uplifting things being accomplished.

"Progress is being made," said one government official.

"We're investing more funds in order to ensure that we keep on building more schools, more hospitals, to ensure the standard of living rises for the Afghan people," the official said.

Harper promised announcement 

Harper declared several weeks ago that he would soon make a "significant announcement" about Canada's next steps in Afghanistan, and he also promised to table a report in Parliament about the mission's successes and ongoing challenges.

If the single greatest challenge is winning over Afghan hearts and minds, a multitude of observers has cited the slow pace of construction as the most nagging impediment to success in Kandahar.

NATO's former commander in Afghanistan, British Gen. David Richards, has warned that Afghans could rebel en masse against foreign troops unless they see a tangible difference in their lives soon.

Canada has already pledged about $1 billion over 10 years to rebuilding Afghanistan. 
However, much of the money so far has gone to longer-term or more abstract projects, including economic development programs and good-governance projects like training judges. 

Tangible needs

One Afghan farmer interviewed last week pointed to more tangible needs. "I would like to see them build schools and clinics," Bismalah, a farmer whose land outside Kandahar was overrun with fighting last fall, told the Canadian Press.

"They are broken and destroyed."

But in one example of a visible project designed to gain Afghan loyalties, Canadians are almost finished applying pavement on a new road that will simplify the lives of farmers who need to bring their produce to Kandahar's marketplace.

Many military officials agree that Canada should be doing much more of that work and often blame the lack of building on a slow, bureaucratic method of aid delivery.

The vast majority of Canada's aid funds is controlled by civil servants who are often unable to operate in a hostile environment. By way of comparison, the U.S. gives its military officials access to a $136-million US fund which they use to quickly dish out cash for infrastructure projects.

A senior Canadian general told a Senate committee last fall that civilian bodies, such as the Canadian International Development Agency, were struggling to proceed with already funded projects in Kandahar.

The death of senior diplomat Glyn Berry in January 2006 severely hobbled Canada's reconstruction and aid effort, placing restrictions on an already slow bureaucracy.

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion said last week that the military needs to work more closely with Canada's development workers and diplomats to make tangible progress in Kandahar.

"The local population must be able to identify our soldiers and our country with the reconstruction efforts," Dion said in a speech. "The Afghan people need to see new schools, hospitals and government buildings, not just tanks."

In that same speech, Dion bemoaned that Canadian military spending in Kandahar has outpaced its aid contribution by a factor of nine, and that four-fifths of those aid dollars are being spent outside the Kandahar region.

He also announced that his Liberals would, if elected, withdraw Canadian troops at the end of the current mission in February 2009. The NDP wants Canada's 2,500 soldiers pulled out of Kandahar immediately.

Soldiers required for reconstruction, Tories say  

The Conservative government says it has made no decision about what happens after 2009, but the Tories ridicule the notion that reconstruction is possible without a robust military presence.

"In order to make concrete progress in developing the country and providing humanitarian aid to the people, we need to push away the threat of the Taliban," said one government official.

"Indeed, there haven't been any Canadian casualties or big attacks lately. But we do expect that they will resume this spring, and NATO will be ready to take them on again."