During his visit to the Afghan capital on Thursday, German development minister Dirk Niebel rejected Afghanistan's request to distribute the aid budget itself.

Speaking in Kabul, Niebel emphasized that budgetary independence requires "a high level of good governance and a low level of corruption," neither of which are present in Afghanistan.

"We will not throw money out the window, our taxpayers have worked hard for it," he said.

Money pot

Niebel said Germany would continue to support individual aid projects it deemed worthwhile, but would not provide the Afghan government with a big pot of money to delegate on their own.

Niebel called on President Afghan President Hamid Karzai to lead a determined fight to strengthen regional governance.

Germany is the third-largest monetary donor to Afghanistan. Berlin has invested 1.1 billion euros ($1.5 billion) in the country since 2002.

Corruption endangers aid

In the past, Niebel's suggestions for cutting waste in Germany's aid budget have been controversial.

In an interview with the German daily Bild prior to his trip, Minister Niebel said that without sufficient protection, aid projects on the ground were subjected to blackmail, abductions and corruption.

Niebel's plans restrict German funds to areas where the country had troops stationed was received critically by some non-profit groups.

Last week Chancellor Angela Merkel's government adopted plans to revamp its development-aid operations abroad, combining three government agencies with 16,000 employees under into one institution.

smh/epd/ AP
Editor: Rob Turner