Afghanistan’s ‘forgotten’ poor wince as billions in aid go to badlands

By Mirwais Harooni and Jeremy Laurence AAB BAREEK/KABUL Afghanistan (Reuters) – For all the billions of dollars in foreign aid that have poured into Afghanistan over the past 12 years, Sajeda, her head-to-toe burqa covered in dust, sobs that the world has forgotten the poorest of the poor in the largely untroubled north of the country. A deadly landslide last week exposed the extreme poverty in the remote mountainous area and also highlighted one of the paradoxes of Western aid: the northern region which supported the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 has got significantly less help than the south and east, home of the Taliban militants. Over the past decade, much of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) funding has been spent in the strongholds of the insurgents as part of Washington's strategy to win the \"hearts and minds\" of the local population. We are forgotten,\" said Sajeda, who lost 12 members of her family in the landslide that killed hundreds in northern Badakhshan province.