Kingdom pledges $30m Afghan aid

UNITED NATIONS, 14 September — Saudi Arabia announced yesterday that it would contribute $30 million toward the reconstruction of the road network in Afghanistan. Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal made the announcement at a joint meeting with US President George W. Bush, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in New York.

“The four discussed regional and international issues of mutual concern as well as efforts to rebuild war-torn Afghanistan,” a statement issued after the quartet meeting said. “We’ll help develop a modern infrastructure so that the Afghan entrepreneur will be able to find work, to put food on the table,” Bush said.

The United States has offered to give $80 million for the project and Japan $50 million.

The meeting called on the international community to take necessary steps to rebuild Afghanistan and participate in the reconstruction of roads in the South Asian country.

The quartet reiterated its support for the interim Afghan government led by President Karzai and said the three countries would continue their efforts for the repatriation of Afghan refugees and rehabilitation of displaced Afghan families within the country. The new road project, linking the capital Kabul with Kandahar, will be completed in three years.

The quartet meeting came after Karzai chided the world community for failing to come up with pledged funds for reconstruction projects. Addressing the UN General Assembly, Karzai said the “level of direct financial support provided to the Afghan government can be considered insufficient.”

A conference of donors held in Tokyo in January pledged $4.5 billion to rebuild Afghanistan after two decades of war. But Karzai said the bulk of the funds promised had not been delivered.

“The people of Afghanistan need a clear commitment and sustained support from the international community to realize these objectives,” he told the delegates. “I would like to once again request the donor countries to further support our strategy for... a national system of security by translating international pledges into concrete contributions.”

Karzai reiterated Afghanistan’s demand for the expansion of the 5,000-strong International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) from the capital Kabul to other parts of the country. “They (Afghans) want to be assured that Afghanistan will not once again be left to fend for itself by the international community.”

Karzai said Afghans were “determined to take every measure to avoid a relapse into warlordism and lawlessness.” “We will never permit our soil to be used for any subversive activities against any of our neighbors and countries in the region, and we expect the same from them,” he added.