Japan confirmed its massive aid support to Afghan President Hamid Karzai yesterday but pointedly reminded him of the need for better governance in the corruption-riddled nation.
Tokyo last year pledged up to US$5 billion dollars by 2013 to rebuild Afghanistan.
Karzai, making his first visit to Tokyo since he started his second term in November last year, thanked Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan for Toyko’s solid support.
PHOTO: AFP/IMPERIAL HOUSEHOLD AGENCY OF JAPAN
“I pay sincere tribute to effort made by President Karzai … I said I hope the US$5 billion will be used to the benefit of the Afghan people and to achieve global peace,” Kan told a joint press conference.
A joint statement issued by the two leaders said: “Prime Minister Kan requested firm efforts, including those for good governance, in order to have tax of Japanese nationals effectively utilized.”
Japanese officials have made similar requests in the past for the country which anti-graft watchdog Transparency International says has the world’s worst corruption except for Somalia, which lacks a functional government.
Karzai promised his host that the aid would be spent bringing development and stability in a way that would make Japan “feel fulfilled for the heart and resources that you’ve been spending in Afghanistan.”
About US$980 million of Japan’s aid pledge has been paid out, including more than US$300 million to cover the wages of Afghanistan’s 80,000 police officers.
Japanese aid has built 650km of highway and a new Kabul airport terminal, and its city planners are working to redevelop the capital, where more than 100 Japanese buses are now providing public transport.
Other Japanese aid projects in the works are vocational training and small-scale rural aid projects that would help former Taliban soldiers give up their arms and earn a living in civil society.
Karzai is in Tokyo with his foreign and finance ministers, as well as national security adviser Rangeen Dadfar Spanta. He had an audience with Emperor Akihito yesterday morning and met Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada in the afternoon.
He will deliver a policy address today before visiting the Hiroshima Peace Memorial tomorrow. On Sunday he will visit the world heritage site of Nara before leaving Japan.
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