Interim Afghan leader Hamid Karzai, seeking to rebuild his country from scratch after two decades of war, issued an emotional appeal for help to delegates from 60 other countries.
“I’m here as the citizen of a country that has had nothing but disasters, war, brutality and deprivation for so many years,” he said at the start of the two-day gathering, attended also by US Secretary of State Colin Powell and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
“We are nicely dressed, we have eaten a good breakfast this morning... but ladies and gentlemen remember that there are in Afghanistan millions of people who are unable to go to basic school, find a treatment for some minor illness, forced to travel with relatives on incredibly bad roads... and that many people are not well fed because of drought and war.”
Pakistan pledged 100 million dollars over five years and Saudi Arabia, one of the co-chairs of the meeting alongside Japan, the US and EU, pledged 220 million dollars over three years. Iran promised 560 million dollars over five years
Karzai also urged the world to forgive debts run up by Afghanistan’s previous regimes to boost his cash-starved administration.
The donors’ gathering was first mooted by the Japanese government a month after the Sept 11 attacks, as US-led forces began bombarding the Taliban in a campaign that led to Karzai taking over last month.
In a bid to stop Afghanistan lurching back to the post-Soviet chaos, donors promised to give at least 3.8 billion dollars over the next five years.
After Tuesday’s final day of talks, the final figure alone looked set to match or beat the 1.3 billion dollars that, according to Annan, Afghanistan needs “right now to cover its immediate needs”.
Despite the ringing declarations of support, the pledges must still be turned into hard cash. Afghans will be wary of the international community losing sight of their crippling problems as the collective gaze shifts elsewhere in the months and years ahead.
“We’re hoping that the international community doesn’t just talk, that the international community delivers, and on the Afghan side, we hope we deliver on the promises made by Mr Karzai today,” Afghan foreign ministry spokesman Omar Samad said while talking to reporters.
But he added: “We’re thrilled. Every single dollar is appreciated.”
Powell assured Karzai and his delegation that “the American people are with you in the long term”, as he announced Washington’s contribution of 296.75 million dollars in the coming year.
“The United States will not abandon the people of Afghanistan and we in the international community must not fail them,” Powell said.
But he was forced to defend the United States contribution, which earlier estimates had placed in the 400-million-dollar range.
Powell noted that Washington was already the leading donor of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan and was waging a war there that was costing billions.
“I don’t know, 296 million dollars seems like a lot to me,” he told reporters aboard his plane en route home from the meeting.
Over the last two decades Afghanistan’s infrastructure has been ravaged, with schools, hospitals and telecommunications destroyed.
The World Bank and Asian Development Bank each promised 500 million dollars over two-and-a-half years. The lending agencies contributed to a pre-conference study which estimated Afghanistan’s reconstruction needs over the next decade would reach 15 billion dollars.
Conference hosts Japan pledged 250 million dollars this year and up to 500 million dollars over the next two years.
The European Union said it was giving the most with a contribution of 550 million euros (495 million dollars) for this year, rising to one billion euros (900 million dollars) over the next five years, depending on member states’ contributions.
“We must not lose sight of our objective — to build a better Afghanistan, an Afghanistan free from terror, social injustice and exclusion, and warlordism,” European Uunion External Affairs Commissioner Chris Patten said. —AFP