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"Contractors in Afghanistan are making big money for bad work." That is the conclusion reached in a new report from CorpWatch written by an Afghan-American journalist who returned to her native country to examine the progress of reconstruction.

"The [George W] Bush administration touts the reconstruction effort in Afghanistan as a success story," the report said, but claimed that reconstruction has been "bungled" by "many of the same politically connected corporations which are doing similar work in Iraq", receiving "massive open-ended contracts" without competitive bidding or with limited competition.

"These companies are pocketing millions, and leaving behind a people increasingly frustrated and angry with the results," the report said. Foreign contractors "make as much as US$1,000 a day, while the Afghans they employ make $5 per day," the report charged.

Examples cited in the report by author Fariba Nawa included a highway that began crumbling before it was finished; a school with a collapsed roof; a clinic with faulty plumbing; a farmers' cooperative that farmers can't use; Afghan police and military that, after training, are incapable of providing the most basic security.

The fall and fall of Afghanistan

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An increasing proportion of Canadians disagree with Canada's decision to send troops to Afghanistan, and the opposition is growing fastest in Quebec.

According to a poll conducted this week among 1,000 adults across the country, there has been a sharp decline in support for military involvement in Afghanistan compared with two months earlier.

About 54 per cent of those polled oppose or strongly oppose Canadian involvement, compared with 41 per cent in mid-March. Negative sentiment has grown sharply in Quebec, where 70 per cent of respondents are against sending troops to Afghanistan, compared with 53 per cent two months ago.