An international donors' conference raised more than US$21 billion yesterday
to support Afghanistan's five-year development plan, meeting expectations of the
Afghan government.
When announcing the figure at the end of the conference, French Foreign
Minister Bernard Kouchner described the result as "a success because we were
expecting in our dreams US$17 billion."
The tally met the goal of the Afghan government, which hoped for US$15
billion to 20 billion from the one-day conference, which brought together
ministers and high-level officials from more than 80 countries and international
organizations.
The United States is on the top of the donor's list with US$10.2 billion,
followed by the Asian Development Bank with 1.3 billion, the World Bank with 1.1
billion, Britain with 600 million pounds (US$1.2 billion), and the European
Union with 500 million euros (US$775 million).
Host France pledged 107 million euros (US$165 million) from the year 2008 to
2010.
Aside from the new pledges, the international community had promised 25
billion dollars since 2002, but only 15 billion has been disbursed.
A donors' conference in 2006 in London secured pledges of US$10.5 billion.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai asked for US$50 billion in aid to fund his
country's reconstruction, development and the fight against poverty, corruption
and Taliban insurgency in the following five years.
"The current development process that is marred by confusion and parallel
structures undermines institution building," Karzai said.
"While Afghanistan needs large amounts of aid, precisely how aid is spent is
just as important," he added.
Karzai said "opium is about survival" for farmers and gave them alternatives
to growing opium poppies and trafficking drugs "is crucial to Afghanistan's
future."
He predicted that the war against the Taliban could not end soon and his
country could achievement peace by 2020.
Aside from fundraising, participants of the conference also urged for
improved coordination of the aid.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged for better management of the fund and
intensified combat of corruption in Afghanistan.
Kai Eide, new special representative of the UN secretary-general for
Afghanistan, urged the Afghan government to demonstrate "greater determination
to improve the quality of administration, pursue -- secure -- greater
accountability and to combat corruption more vigorously."
"It is a very fragile success and it must be consolidated," said Eide
referring to the progress Afghanistan made in recent years.
He also vowed to better coordination of an aid in the Asian country, where
corruption, drugs, and Taliban insurgents have posed great challenges to the
government and international peace-keepers.