Afghanistan said yesterday it needed US$45 billion over the next decade to rebuild a land shattered by 23 years of war, while US warplanes wreaked more damage as they bombed suspected al-Qaeda hideouts.
As the hunt went on for Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and Saudi-born al-Qaeda head Osama bin Laden, the US moved the first and most dangerous prisoners from the war in Afghanistan to a detention camp in Cuba.
But for Afghans, tired of war, the priority was not capturing foes but finding a way to rebuild their lives.
Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq, interim planning minister, said the country needed at least US$15 billion for immediate reconstruction and would present its proposals to a pledging conference of more than 50 countries in Tokyo on Jan. 21 and 22.
US efforts to help rebuild Afghanistan were underlined on Friday with the announcement Secretary of State Colin Powell will visit Kabul next week.
The most senior US official to visit Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban late last year will hear Afghan leaders' needs for reconstruction and promise continued US assistance.
The need for those funds was underscored as US warplanes pounded suspected remnants of bin Laden's al-Qaeda network and the hardline Taliban that had protected them in eastern mountains.
US planes launched some of the fiercest raids yet seen on areas around eastern Khost, the private Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) said, quoting witnesses from the Pakistani border town of Miranshah.
"US planes bombed Zhawar near eastern Khost city throughout the night and early [yesterday] morning," AIP said.
US troops on Friday moved the first and most dangerous prisoners from the war into a detention camp in Cuba.
"These are people that would gnaw through hydraulic lines in the back of [a transport plane] to bring it down," said Air Force General Richard Myers, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman.
Under heavy guard and with their hands tied, 20 al-Qaeda and Taliban prisoners were unloaded from a military transport plane at an isolated US Navy base at Guantanamo Bay to be held in cage-like outdoor cells for interrogation and possible trial.
RSS