Karzai vows effective use of Japanese aid for Afghan stability

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TOKYO, June 17 Kyodo -
Afghan President Hamid Karzai guaranteed to Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan
on Thursday that the Afghan people ''will do their best'' to effectively use
Japan's five-year civilian aid package worth up to $5 billion for the
development and stability of the war-torn country.
Following summit talks between the two, Kan told a joint press conference that
Afghanistan is a ''very important country for achieving world peace'' and that
Japan will continue to support the conflict-ravaged country with the hope that
the aid package will be used not only for the Afghan people but for global
peace.
Japan unveiled the civilian aid package for Afghanistan last November, which
includes financial aid for the Afghan government to pay about half the wages
for all of the country's 80,000 police officers as well as for vocational
training for former insurgents, and agricultural and rural development.
According to a joint press release, Karzai ''shared the Afghan government's
efforts to make further progress towards strengthened anticorruption activities
as well as improved accountability and financial management'' to increase the
''national ownership of and responsibility for reconstruction and
development.''
Kan requested Kabul's ''firm efforts, including those for good governance, in
order to have tax of Japanese nationals effectively utilized,'' the document
said.
The two emphasized the importance of a successful outcome at an international
conference on Afghan reconstruction scheduled for July 20 in Kabul, and agreed
to deepen ties with the 80th anniversary of bilateral relations this year.
They also decided to hold regular consultations between the two countries,
including at ministerial level, to support Afghanistan in tackling various
challenges, according to the statement.
Karzai, who is on a five-day visit to Japan through Sunday, became the first
foreign leader to meet with Kan since he assumed the post of prime minister
last week.
The Afghan leader is making his fourth trip to Japan, which is also his first
since being reelected as president last November.
Japan has been Afghanistan's second-largest donor, after the United States,
with $2.35 billion given between September 2001 and April 2010 for projects
such as infrastructure construction, rural development, efforts to disarm and
reintegrate former Taliban fighters, and education and health services.
Japanese officials said Tokyo is ready to contribute $50 million from the $5
billion aid package to a fund to be established to promote reconciliation and
reintegration among the Afghan people.
Karzai is scheduled to travel to Hiroshima to visit the Peace Memorial Park
commemorating the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing, as well as Kyoto and Nara in
western Japan, before wrapping up his visit on Sunday afternoon.
Kan noted that the Shosoin treasure house in Nara, which Karzai is scheduled to
visit, has items given from Afghanistan more than 1,000 years ago and expressed
hope that the two countries will maintain friendly relations for 1,000 to 2,000
years to come.
Earlier in the day, Karzai had an audience with Emperor Akihito and held talks
with Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada.
The emperor asked Karzai about the hardships of rebuilding the nation, while
the Afghan president expressed his gratitude for Japan's support for the
country, according to the Imperial Household Agency.
Karzai told the emperor that when he last visited Japan in 2006, he left from a
terminal at Kabul airport that had been constructed around 50 years earlier,
but this time he left from a new terminal built with Japanese aid, the agency
said.
==Kyodo
2010-06-17 23:47:59