Bonn conference opens with focus on Afghan rebuilding
Delegates from over 100 countries and international organisations gathered in Germany's Bonn city Monday, attending an international conference on Afghanistan to draw up a roadmap for the war-torn nation's future.
Ten years ago, a similar major Afghan conference was held in the same city, which reshaped the Afghan political framework after the western military forces toppled Taliban regime and Hamid Karzai became the transitional leader of the country and then won the election of president.
The 2011 Bonn conference, hosted by Germany and chaired by Karzai, is aimed at "mobilizing the international community in support of Afghanistan, and beyond 2014", when international combat troops are due to leave Afghanistan, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said before the meeting, reported Xinhua.
With the theme "From Transition to Transformation", the conference hopes to make progress on two aspects -- to renew international community's commitment to maintaining long-term stability and development of Afghanistan after the troop withdrawal, and to promote the political process of reconciliation between the Afghan government and the insurgents.
"Internally, Afghanistan needs a process of political reconciliation, while externally, it needs to be embedded in a good partnership with its neighbours," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in an interview Friday.
The chancellor also said Taliban, which did not send a representative to the Bonn meeting, could make a contribution to the peace process, if they cut all links to al Qaeda and renounce violence.
In an interview with German magazine Der Spiegel, Afghanistan President Karzai said: "Afghanistan will certainly need help for another 10 years -- until around 2024."
"We will need training for our own troops. We will need equipment for the army and police, and help to set up state institutions," he said. "If we lose this fight (with Taliban), we are threatened with a return to a situation like that before September 11, 2001."
Despite a large-scale attendance, the conference was overshadowed by Pakistan deciding to stay away from the meeting. Islamabad said it would boycott the meeting, outraged by a cross-border NATO bombing on the country's checkposts that left 24 Pakistani soldiers dead Nov 26.
As Islamabad plays a key role in mediation between the Afghan government and the Taliban, observers said the boycott has severely dampened expectations from the conference and cast doubt over how the domestic reconciliation of Afghanistan could really be achieved in such an unfavourable and unpredictable atmosphere.
