Germany: The Afghanistan donors' conference ended in Berlin yesterday with a new agreement to tackle the country's growing drug problem and the promise of over $8 billion (€6.5 billion) in aid over the next three years.
Mr Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the secretary general of NATO, said a new plan was being developed for a "substantial" new deployment of alliance forces to stabilise the country ahead of elections in September.
Mr Brian Cowen, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, pledged €5 million on Ireland's behalf for the reconstruction, bring the State's financial contribution to €17 million since January 2002.
"We believe that the people of Afghanistan have the courage and determination necessary to overcome ", said Mr Cowen at the conference, speaking on behalf of the European Union. "They can rely on the support of the European Union, its member-states and the entire international community."
US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell praised President Hamid Karzai and his "extraordinary achievements" and promised that "never again will tyrants and terrorists rule Afghanistan".
The US was by far the largest donor, giving €2.2 billion over this year and next.
Mr Karzai thanked donors for their generosity.
"In a few years Afghanistan will not be a burden on your shoulders \ will stand on its own feet," he said, adding that the money would be used on irrigation programmes and road reconstruction.
Officials said the level of contributions, almost the same as at the last donor conference in Tokyo two years ago, were a good sign that "donor fatigue" had not set in.
Mr Karzai said his government was determined to stem the flow of opium for heroin into the world.
The two-step anti-drug plan agreed in Berlin will see a new initiative by Kabul to destroy poppy fields and an agreement with its neighbours - China, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Iran and Pakistan - for "the elimination of opium cultivation and supply".
International observers were welcoming but cautious of the deal.
"Declarations like this are never self-implementing [but] provide a framework for the work. It's not the work in and of itself," said Mr Barnett Rubin, director of studies at New York's Centre on International Cooperation.
CARE International, an advocacy organisation, presented a report at the conference showing that opium production earned $2.3 billion for farmers and traffickers in Afghanistan last year.
