Donor Conference Pledges Billions in Aid

Germany, the U.S. and other wealthy countries responded to Afghan President Karzai's appeal to help his country "stand on its own strong feet" by pledging $8.2 billion next year for reconstruction aid.

The third International Conference on Afghanistan opened in Berlin on Wednesday with donors pledging millions in reconstruction aid to help the war-ravaged country combat the threat of private militias, drug barons and help smooth its transition to post-Taliban democracy.

Afghan Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani announced that $4.4 billion (€3.59 billion) had already been promised for 2004-2005. "This is 100 percent of our target," he told a press conference at the close of the first day of the donor conference, which addresses ways to stabilize the Afghanistan's political and economic reconstruction.

The minister said he was "delighted" with the pledges which poured in after Afghan President Hamid Karzai appealed to officials from more than 50 countries to help his country "stand on its own strong feet."

Ghani said that donor nations had also agreed to commit a total of $8.2 billion for the coming three years. That figure falls short of the Kabul government's three-year goal of raising $11.9 billion dollars, but eclipse the $4.5 billion pledged at the 2002 Tokyo Donors Conference.

A dollar a day

Afghanistan is one of the world's poorest countries. Some four million of its 25 million population live on less than 50 U.S. cents a day, Ghani said during the conference.

"Our priority is precisely to ensure a move from abject poverty to poverty with dignity -- at least a dollar a day," he told reporters.

"We're not asking for the Mercedes-Benz of development, we're asking for the basic bicycle of development," he said.

Karzai's government is seeking roughly $28 billion for the next seven years. It says the money is essential to help rebuild the nation and make it self-sufficient in the near future.

Speaking to the delegates at the conference, Karzai called for "sustained assistance" from those countries who have stood by Afghanistan so far.

"Let us see that Afghanistan in a few years will not be a burden on your shoulders, but a state that will stand on his own strong feet," he said.

Pledges roll in

"The United States will not abandon you," U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told Karzai as he offered $1 billion in aid on top of the $1.2 billion Washington has already committed for this year.

The European Union pledged €700 million ($852 million) for this year, with individual countries also offering their assistance.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, whose country has traditionally provided the largest amount of financial aid in Europe, pledged €320 million over the next four years. Italy offered more than €140 million over the next three years.

Japan offered $400 million over the next two years and the Asian Development Bank pledged about $1 billion in loans and grants between 2005 and 2008.

In addition, Russia and Afghanistan are reportedly in negotiation over a debt write-off that would forgive Afghanistan 80 percent of the some $10 billion it owes Moscow and would open the way for Russia to give aid to a country it once occupied.