US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who has vowed a long-term US commitment to war-wrecked Afghanistan, arrived in Japan yesterday for a conference where donors will pledge billions of dollars to rebuild the country.
Officials and ministers from more than 60 governments and international organizations will meet in Tokyo tomorrow and Tuesday to pledge funds for a reconstruction process that aid experts estimate will cost US$15 billion over a decade.
US officials travelling with Powell remained coy about how much of that Washington would contribute, repeating the view that the US had already made a big contribution by ridding Afghanistan of the Taliban and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda group. A senior state department official, who did not wish to be identified, said however that the US pledge would be "significant and substantive."
A solid show of international support is considered vital for the survival of Afghanistan's interim administration.
The conference co-hosts -- Japan, the US, the EU and Saudi Arabia -- are expected to broadly share the bulk of the financial burden for rebuilding Afghanistan.
EU officials have said they hoped to pump at least US$500 million a year into the reconstruction effort, or about a quarter of the US$9 billion to US$12 billion they expect will be needed over the first five years.
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