Afghanistan donors conference in Tokyo to discuss aid

A major international conference has opened in Tokyo to discuss financial support for Afghanistan after most Nato-led forces leave in 2014.

Sunday's meeting is expected to agree a total of $16bn (£10.3bn) in civilian aid over four years, officials say.
Kabul wants firm aid commitments, while donors are likely to demand assurances that the funds will be well spent.
There is concern that the planned Nato pullout could energise the insurgency and plunge Afghanistan back into chaos.
In his opening remarks, Afghan President Hamid Karzai acknowledged that security remained a major problem, but that his country had come a long way.
"In these past 10 years, with help from the international community, we have made remarkable progress toward healing of the scars of conflicts and destruction," the AFP news agency quoted him saying.
He also sought to assure those attending that his government was working to tackle endemic corruption.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also spoke at the start of the meeting, urging delgates to preserve gains made over the past decade in Afghanistan.
"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," said Mr Ban.

President Karzai: "Afghanistan remains vulnerable as our economy continues to be underdeveloped"

The Tokyo conference is being attended by high-level delegates from more than 70 nations and international organisations, including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Participants are expected to promise $4bn in annual aid between 2012 and 2015, according to a US official travelling with Ms Clinton.
Afghanistan's central bank estimates that the country needs between $6bn and $7bn a year in civilian development aid.
Any aid pledged in Tokyo is expected to be tied to commitments from the Afghan authorities that it will improve governance and combat corruption, correspondents say.
Kabul is also likely be asked to promise to safeguard human rights and ensure free and fair presidential and parliamentary elections in 2014.
Military support The civilian aid sought in Tokyo comes on top of $4.1bn in military assistance for Afghanistan's armed forces pledged by a summit of Nato leaders in Chicago in May.

Many Afghans fear for their country's future stability after foreign forces leave

According to plans endorsed at the Chicago meeting, Nato-led forces will hand over combat command to Afghan forces by mid-2013, followed by a withdrawal of combat troops by the end of 2014. After that, only training units will remain.
Speaking during a brief stop-over in Kabul on her way to Tokyo on Saturday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that the US had given Kabul the status of "major non-Nato ally".
The a move is seen as another signal aimed at allaying Afghan fears about waning Western support.
Ms Clinton said the US was "not even imaging abandoning Afghanistan".
The designation as major non-Nato ally, which already includes close US allies such as Australia and Israel, gives Kabul easier access to advanced US military technology and streamlines defence co-operation between the countries.
The last country to be granted the status was Pakistan in 2004.
In May, US President Barack Obama and his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai, signed a 10-year strategic partnership agreement outlining military and civil ties between the countries after 2014.