16 billion $ to Afghan aid at Tokyo meet

Donor nations readied on Sunday to pledge USD 16 billion for Afghanistan to prevent the country from sliding back into turmoil when foreign combat troops depart, but the aid was expected to come with strings attached.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who is in Tokyo along with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for a gathering focused on the “Transformation Decade” after the NATO drawdown, has called for USD 4 billion a year in civilian aid.
On Saturday, Japan announced donors will stump up USD 16 billion in civilian aid for four years to 2015, but the pledge was expected to come with several pre-conditions including reforms to clampdown on corruption.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told the gathering that Afghanistan has made headway in security and development but progress remained fragile.
“Failure to invest in governance, justice, human rights, employment and social development could negate investment and sacrifices that have been made over the last 10 years,” he told the meeting.
Hours later it was reported a roadside bomb had killed 14 people in southern Kandahar province, underlining the still precarious security situation in Afghanistan.
Today’s conference is aimed at plugging the gap between what Kabul gets from its barely-functioning economy and what it needs to develop into a stable country.
“We are at a critical moment in Afghanistan’s history in transition from reliance on the aid that has enabled the country’s institutions to take roots to a normalised relationship of a sovereign, functioning Afghanistan with its people and with its international partners,” Ban said.
Clinton, who on Saturday said the United States had designated Afghanistan a major non-NATO ally, told the meeting peace on its own was not a sufficient dividend for the sacrifices that have been made.