January 29, 2006	Sunday	Zilhaj 28, 1426

LONDON, Jan 28: Afghan President Hamid Karzai will ask the international community to commit $4 billion more to boost reconstruction of his country at a donor conference in London on Tuesday.

Mr Karzai told Britain’s Financial Times newspaper on Saturday the time had come for aid donors to give directly to the government of Afghanistan rather than the non-governmental organizations which work there.

He said the conference would not only seek to raise $4 billion for the next fiscal year’s budget and explain the need for $20 billion over the next five years, but also take stock of the Afghan government’s performance over the past four years.

“Afghan people want a stronger Afghan government and Afghan civil service with the ability to fund and deliver basic services,” he said in an interview.

“We would like the international community to deliver a bigger part of their resources through Afghan government institutions rather than spending it through non-governmental organizations,” he added.

Mr Karzai said any failure to support the Afghan government would undermine its gains in other fields. Of the country’s problems though, Mr Karzai said Afghanistan was still struggling to combat the trade in narcotics. He said British troops who are to be based in southern Afghanistan would need to tackle the opium business.

Britain announced on Thursday it would send 3,300 troops as part of a major new three-year mission to bring Nato peacekeepers to southern Afghanistan. The deployment will bring to 5,700 the number of British troops in the country.

“Narcotics are a problem that we have to face,” he said. “Narcotics money feeds terrorism.”

Mr Karzai will meet with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf next month to urge closer cooperation.—Reuters