Ghani Warns to Close Inactive NGOs

President Ashraf Ghani on Sunday warned non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that they will be closed if they do not carry out fundamental projects.

The first national conference of NGOs was held today in Kabul where President Ghani, the Minister of Economy and officials from the foreign and local organizations had participated.

“Unfortunately, there has been no fundamental development. Despite, the 17-year generous support from the international community, the SDG and MDG records show us at the lowest level,” Ghani told participants.

He called this a “collective failure” of the government, the people and the non-governmental organizations.

The President also urged the NGOs to prefer transparency and accountability in their performance and budgets.

In addition, the Minister of Economy, Mustafa Mastoor, criticized the NGOs, saying that a number of these organizations have changed to a “family business”.

“Last year, 11 foreign organizations and 300 local organizations have submitted reports of inactivity,” Mastoor said. “Good NGOs must be separated from bad ones and busy ones must be separated from inactive ones.”

This comes as the Afghan government has always faulted the international community for not giving the assistance directly to the Afghan government.