January 31, 2006

Afghans to present 5-year plan, get global support

By Madeline Chambers

LONDON (Reuters) - Afghanistan will receive promises of economic and military support from more than 50 countries on Tuesday as it outlines a five-year reform plan, including steps to fight corruption and the illegal opium trade.

Four years after the U.S.-led invasion which ousted the Taliban, Afghanistan remains one of the world's poorest countries and security remains a major obstacle to development.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice speaks to journalists at a joint news conference with Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai in London January 30, 2006. (REUTERS/Kirsty Wrigglesworth/AP Photo/WPA Pool)

But the international community will express a commitment to stopping the country from becoming a failed state at a conference in London, chaired by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in London for the start of the two-day gathering, said the aim was to help the central Asian country stand "on its own feet".

"Afghanistan is a wonderful success story but we recognise there's a long road ahead," she said.

The country now has a constitution, an elected president and a parliament despite violence in the south and east where 18,000 U.S. troops are helping government forces fight insurgents.

Officials have blamed Taliban and al Qaeda militants for a string of attacks, including 13 suicide blasts, since November.

The conference also comes as NATO prepares to boost its forces to 15,000 from 9,000 and expand into the dangerous south while the United States trims its troop levels.

DRUGS AND AID

The gathering, attended by 51 countries, 17 observers and 12 international bodies, is not a pledging conference but British officials say they expect some nations to offer more aid, especially to a fund to fight illegal drugs.

Afghanistan has received more than $15 billion in international development assistance since 2001, according to Britain, and the conference will suggest ways of using the aid more effectively by giving more directly to the government.

The U.N.'s World Food Programme urged rich nations to focus on the poor people of Afghanistan, where more than half the children are malnourished.

"Peace is still not assured, and we must remember there are still millions of extremely poor and hungry people who need help," said Charles Vincent WFP's Afghanistan director.

Delegates are looking for assurances that Kabul will tackle corruption and its illegal narcotics trade.

Afghanistan is the world's biggest source of illicit opium and its refined heroin accounts for about 87 percent of global supply. Many farmers depend on the drug's revenues.

Karzai, keen to boost foreign investment, will present a development strategy. He aims for 10 percent annual growth in the next five years and $4 billion a year in aid.

Karzai told a business audience on Monday that Afghanistan had low costs and taxes and that he was cutting bureaucracy.

"Come to Afghanistan, make money, take most of it home and leave a little with us," he said.

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