US Secretary of State Colin Powell is due to open a day of Afghan reconstruction talks today attended by representatives of some of the world's richest nations and institutions.
Powell will open meetings co-chaired with Japan at the State Department which will pave the way for an international conference in Pakistan from Nov. 27 to 29 hosted by the World Bank and intended to help rebuild a country devastated by decades of war, years of famine and weeks of a US-led bombing campaign.
The aim is to underpin a political framework being hastily constructed for Afghanistan with billions of dollars.
At least 14 governments, international organizations and banks will attend the Washington talks, with Japan represented at deputy foreign minister level and the US team led by Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Alan Larson and Under Secretary of State of Treasury John Taylor.
Christina Rocca, assistant secretary of state for South Asia affairs, said last week the one-day conference would concentrate on possible projects in agriculture, water, sewerage, mine clearing, health and education.
She said she hoped the event would help serve as an incentive for Afghans to participate in a broad-based government.
The international community, taken by surprise by the rapid collapse of Taliban power, is scrambling to patch together a coalition of Afghans to run the country.
"This is just a first step in a process that we foresee will expand to include all members of the international community committed to a prosperous future for Afghanistan," State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said last week.
Invitations have gone to Canada, Germany, Russia, Britain, Italy, France, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the Afghan support group chaired by Germany, the EU presidency in Belgium, the European Commission and the Organization of the Islamic Conference chair in Qatar, Reeker said.
Representatives from the World Bank, the UN, the Asian Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank have also been asked to attend the talks which Reeker said were not a pledging conference.
The US meeting had originally been planned for the UN, according to reports by diplomats and UN officials. No explanation was offered for why the venue was changed.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2