Kabul hopeful of aid to help nation stand on its own feet
London conference focuses on fighting corruption and the country's massive illegal opium trade
Afghanistan is set to receive economic and military support from more than 50 countries as it outlines a five-year reform plan, including steps to fight corruption and the illegal opium trade.
Four years after the United States-led invasion that ousted the Taleban, Afghanistan remains one of the world's poorest countries and security remains a major obstacle to development.
But the international community is poised to express a commitment to stopping the country becoming a failed state at a conference in London, chaired by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in London for the start of the two-day gathering, said the aim was to help the 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 US troops are helping government forces fight insurgents.
Officials have blamed Taleban 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 US cuts troop levels.
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 US$15 billion in development assistance since 2001, according to Britain, and the conference will suggest ways of using the aid more effectively by channelling more directly to the government.
The UN's World Food Programme urged rich nations to focus on the poor people of Afghanistan, where more than half of 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, the programme's Afghanistan director.
Delegates are looking for assurances that Kabul will tackle corruption and its trade in illegal drugs.
Afghanistan is the world's biggest source of illicit opium and its refined heroin accounts for about 85 per cent of global supply. The trade is worth US$3 billion a year to Afghanistan, a third of economic output. .
Mr Karzai, keen to boost foreign investment, will present a development strategy that aims for 10 per cent annual growth in the next five years and US$4 billion a year in aid.
He 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.
Ahead of the London conference, Human Rights Watch appealed to donors and Nato nations to help end insecurity that has hampered development and access to basic public services.
'The real measure of security and development in Afghanistan is not the number of foreign troops, but whether people feel safe enough to go to the market, to travel at night to seek medical care or to send their children to school,' said Sam Zarifi, of the rights group's Asia division.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
