10.2 |
Reconstruction: July 2004 to July 2009
324.
A DFID
official briefed the ISOG on the impact of the US reconstruction
effort.
He advised
that “the US was well aware of its failings … and there was little
we could
tell them
that they didn’t already realise and were actively trying to
change”. The most
significant
impact DFID could have on the US was by working jointly with them
in
the South.
325.
The Cabinet
Office paper on funding for Iraq was finalised for the 21 July
meeting
of DOP,
chaired by Mr Blair, which considered whether or not the UK
Provincial
Reconstruction
Team (PRT) in Afghanistan should move from the north to
Helmand
and what,
if any, additional force package should be deployed to support it
(see
326.
The Cabinet
Office paper, which was presented as an appendix to the main
MOD
paper, set
out the estimates of financial pressures associated with the Iraq
campaign for
2005/06,
2006/07 and 2007/08.
327.
On 17 June, a
junior DFID official invited Mr Benn to endorse the “annual
review”
of DFID’s
Interim Country Assistance Plan (I-CAP).190
328.
In his
covering minute, the official advised that the I-CAP (which had
been
published
in February 2004) had been expected to remain in place for two
years, and
contained a
commitment to undertake a “substantial review” after one
year.
329.
However,
events had “pre-empted a pro-active review”. Those events
were:
•
the
exchange between Mr Blair and Mr Benn in October 2004 on
the need to
accelerate
the pace of reconstruction and increase the impact of DFID’s
bilateral
programme
in the short term;
•
Mr Chakrabarti’s
and Mr Drummond’s visit to Iraq in December 2004 to
review
DFID
programmes and assess priorities for 2005;
•
Mr Benn’s
agreement in December 2004 to priorities for 2005;
•
the
agreement in February 2005 of the 2005 UK Iraq Strategy. That
Strategy
included
“most of the items that we suggested”, and was in line with
priorities
agreed by
Mr Benn; and
•
subsequently,
“unexpected and significant funding constraints” arising from
a
smaller
than expected budget for 2005/06 and an increase in life support
costs
levelled by
the FCO.
189
Paper MOD
Officials, 19 July 2005, ‘Afghanistan: Resources and Strategic
Planning’.
190
Minute DFID
[junior official] to Private Secretary [DFID], 17 June 2005, ‘Iraq:
Interim Country
Assistance Plan:
Annual Review’ attaching Paper DFID, [undated], ‘DFID: Iraq Country
Assistance
Plan Review
2004/5’.
251