The Department for International Development has been urged to review its aid programme in Afghanistan to focus on poverty reduction, after an independent report found some projects designed to boost economic growth are performing poorly.

The Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) rated the DFID's bilateral support for growth and livelihoods in Afghanistan – which makes up about one-third of the UK's £190 million annual official aid programme in the country – as "amber/red", meaning it performs "relatively poorly" and "significant improvements should be made".

ICAI suggested some of the programmes were over-ambitious and its chief commissioner Graham Ward said: "The on-going international military drawdown is an important opportunity for DFID to focus its future strategy solely on poverty reduction." 
(Westerndailypress)