There are billions being spent to "help" Afghanistan, but at the same time, some consultants are making $500K per year, staying in the best hotels and eating in the best restos Kabul has to offer -- and still probably making a healthy profit, finds this BBC story.
In a typical Afghan tea house are two young Kabulis: Rush, 22, a guard and interpreter; and Mahdi, a former driver for an NGO who has now joined the Afghan army. Both are very critical of the foreign presence in the city.
"I'm angry - the foreigners came here to help the poor people of Afghanistan, but unfortunately they are spending money in restaurants on alcohol, on fuel for sightseeing vehicles," says Rush.
The US Embassy in Kabul is known as 'Fortress America'"They are spending all their money on themselves."
And Mahdi adds that he feels "very sad" on seeing foreigners "driving in their big cars and living in their big mansions."
"That money could help the economies of the poor Afghan families," he adds.
"All my friends and all Afghans think like this - the foreigners here are acting like movie stars. They drive big cars, use big guns.
"At night they are getting Chinese and Russian girls for playing. They have no sense of where they are and what they are doing."
According to Matt Waldman, who is Oxfam's policy adviser, the anger felt by some Afghans about the amount of money spent on what looks to them like foreigners' luxurious lifestyles is compounded by the inefficient way that much of the aid is delivered.
"We have seen a lot of aid has been wasted," he said.
"Many of the big donors give a substantial portion of their aid to contractors - and as in Iraq, we see that many of those contractors have very big profit margins, often over 20% - sometimes as high as 50%.
"In one particular project, there may be as many as five contractors."
'Badly skewed'
Mr Waldman says he knows of Afghan contractors making profits that high, but adds that international contractors would not reveal their figures.
This is one of the flaws in the international aid system. Over the past 20 years, US aid has been effectively privatised - and US contractors are under no obligation to reveal how much profit they make.
Some NGOs believe the military spend is disproportionate to that on aidHowever, Bill Wood, at the US Embassy in Kabul - known to some NGOs as "Fortress America" - vigorously defends the US aid efforts.
"We are spending our money to employ experts who are experts, to do a difficult and complicated job," he says.
"To the degree that we can spend the money inside of Afghanistan to employ Afghans, we do that."
But Oxfam has warned of a humanitarian disaster unless there is a change in direction of aid effort, and Matt Waldman says that there is a desperate need in particular for more rural aid.
If this is not forthcoming, he believes stability will remain elusive - critically undermining the work in the country since 2001.