By Francois Murphy and Arshad Mohammed
PARIS (Reuters) - Ministers will pledge funds forAfghanistan and review their development strategy for thefragile Central Asian state at a donors conference which gotunderway in Paris on Thursday.
More than six years after U.S.-led forces ousted theTaliban regime that sheltered al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden,corruption is rife, the drug trade is thriving and attacksoccur daily in Afghanistan, one of the world's poorest nations.
Afghanistan's government is asking the ministers and otherdelegates from 67 countries to fund a $50 billion (25.6 billionpounds) five-year development plan, for which donors willdemand that Kabul do more to fight graft which has deterredinvestment.
"It is the duty of all democrats to help you," FrenchPresident Nicolas Sarkozy told his Afghan counterpart HamidKarzai in his opening speech, adding that France would"maintain its effort in Afghanistan as long as necessary."
More than 15 international organisations also took part inthe conference opened by Sarkozy, Karzai and U.N.Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Donors are not expected to pledge a full $50 billion butthe conference is intended to be a show of support forAfghanistan after a NATO summit in April examined militarystrategy for the more than 50,000 foreign troops stationedthere.
Last year alone, an insurgency by a rejuvenated Talibanaccounted for some 6,000 deaths.
The United States will pledge about $10 billion over aroundtwo years, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said as sheflew to the Paris meeting. The World Bank's envoy said it wouldprovide around $1.1 billion over five years and a foreignministry spokesman said Japan would offer an extra $550million.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Britain would provideabout 600 million pounds in reconstruction aid to Afghanistanthrough 2012/2013. A U.S. official told Reuters on Tuesday heexpected total pledges of more than $15 billion.
Sarkozy said France would more than double its aid,focusing on health and agriculture, but did not give anyfigures.
Aid agencies in Afghanistan say France has spent around $80million in aid since 2001, with a further $29.5 million pledgedbut not disbursed.
Envoys are expected to pledge to improve coordination of anaid effort often criticised as chaotic and inefficient. Theconference is also expected to reinforce the authority of theU.N.'s special envoy for Afghanistan, Kai Eide.
Afghanistan depends on aid for 90 percent of its spending.But international donors have fallen behind in paying what theyhave already pledged, and much of the money goes straight backto donor countries in salaries, purchase of goods and profits.
The lag in aid is partly due to concerns about corruption.Of the $25 billion pledged for Afghanistan from 2001 until now,only around $15 billion has been spent, aid agencies say.
"I think there will be much more of a commitmentpolitically now to coordination and to aid effectiveness thanwe've seen ever before," Eide told Reuters in an interview onWednesday.
"In that way I really think the conference ... will be akind of a new chapter because I believe that that readiness isthere much more today than it has been ever since we startedour efforts in Afghanistan," he added.
Eide said he wanted to see more aid going through Afghanchannels, supporting the organisers' stated aim of'Afghanisation' -- handing more responsibility to Afghans.
