Spotlight on Security and the Drugs Crisis

Afghanistan and its neighbors agreed on measures to curb the country's immense drugs exports as security issues take center stage on the final day of the international donor conference in Berlin.

The anti-drug treaty signed by Afghanistan, China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan foresees close cooperation in fighting the flourishing drug trade and opium production as well as consumption. Police and intelligence services will work together to create a so-called "security belt," to cut off drug smugglers' access to the border.

Experts from the countries involved will meet in Kabul by June to push forward the anti-drug accord, worked out under British auspices. "A stable Afghanistan with a strong central government is essential to counter-narcotics efforts," the agreement stated.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, whose country is hosting the conference in Berlin, said the agreement was an important step and pledged Germany's support in putting it into practice.

The accord comes on the heels of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's warning to the conference delegates from 56 countries that the drug trade and opium cultivation "are threatening the very existence of the Afghan state."

Indeed, 80 percent of the opium poppies -- from which heroin is derived -- grown worldwide come from Afghanistan. Along with disarming warlords and militias, the fight against the drug trade remains one of the most daunting challenges facing the country.

Stabilization priority before elections

Conference participants are also discussing how to stabilize the country, which is still plagued by lawlessness and poor security conditions, particularly in the remote mountainous regions outside the capital of Kabul.

Regional warlords and tribal chiefs control whole areas of Afghanistan, pursuing their own interests, which often run counter to those of the central government. One of the main issues at the conference is providing a safe backdrop for the first free presidential and parliamentary elections in September.

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), currently led by NATO and composed of 6,500 troops from numerous countries is charged with ensuring security in Kabul and its surroundings. Germany has 2,000 soldiers among the ISAF troops, including a provincial reconstruction team in Kundus in the north of the country. Berlin is also helping to train Afghan police.

Chancellor Schröder has called for extending international troop presence beyond Kabul, though he hasn't said Germany would be willing to expand its activities. Defense Minister Peter Struck has already ruled out doing so.

Rich donor countries pledged a total of $8.2 billion in aid over the next three years to Afghanistan on the first day of the conference on Wednesday. The country is set to receive $4.4 billion of the sum by March 20, 2005. The World Bank estimated that Afghanistan would need $27.5 billion over the next seven years for reconstruction.