Aid to Fragile States: Role of Aid Delivery Programs in Promoting Social Development through School Education in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2020

Abstract

Foreign aid has been crucial in helping fragile states, especially Afghanistan after 2001, when the international community made significant investments in rebuilding state institutions. Between 2001 and 2020, billions of U.S. dollars were allocated to sectors like security, governance, and economic & social development. This paper uses primary and secondary data as well as existing literature to examine the impact of foreign aid on social development, with a focus on school education.

The findings show that education received a relatively small share of aid compared to other sectors and that Afghanistan remains economically dependent on foreign aid largely because of ineffective donor and government policies and the predominance of short-term, externally driven programs. Although the paper focuses on development outcomes, it recognizes that larger political and conflict-related dynamics (state legitimacy and fragile governance, strategic interests and donor politics, armed conflict and insecurity, and limited local ownership and parallel systems) influenced the effectiveness of aid in Afghanistan.