$16 Billion in Civilian Aid Pledged to Afghanistan, With Conditions

By JANE PERLEZ

An international donor’s conference on Sunday pledged $16 billion for the economic development of Afghanistan in the next four years, but for the first time made it a condition that the Afghan government reduce corruption before receiving all of the money. The agreement, called the Tokyo Framework of Mutual Accountability, says that foreign governments will assure Afghanistan a steady stream of financing in exchange for stronger anticorruption measures and the establishment of the rule of law. Up to 20 percent of the money would depend on the government meeting governance standards, according to the document, which was released here on Sunday. The money pledge, along with the plans for the Afghan security forces laid out at a NATO summit meeting in May in Chicago, represent a diplomatic success for American officials, who have lobbied for long-term international support for Afghanistan. There had been concerns that the economic crunch in the West and donor fatigue would leave President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and his American backers scrambling to come up with the money needed to run and secure Afghanistan, where the government’s expenses far outstrip its revenues. Addressing the conference here in Tokyo, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the lives of all Afghan civilians needed to improve after a decade of war. To accomplish that goal, a number of steps were needed, she said. “That must include fighting corruption, improving governance, strengthening the rule of law, increasing access to economic opportunity for all Afghans, especially for women,” she said. Mr. Karzai, who is under increasing pressure from international donors to fight corruption, including within his extended family, acknowledged in his own speech to the conference that corruption had undermined the legitimacy of his government. But Afghans were not the only ones responsible for corruption, he said: “We will fight corruption with strong resolve where it occurs and ask the same of our international partners.” Representatives of more than 70 countries attended the conference. Mrs. Clinton did not specify how much the United States would contribute to the $16 billion, saying that Washington would maintain its level of financing. The Obama administration request to Congress for Afghan civilian assistance for 2013 was $2.5 billion, slightly more than the $2.2 billion that lawmakers approved for 2012. Congress, given budget constraints and public weariness with the war in Afghanistan, would almost certainly appropriate less than the $2.5 billion requested, American analysts said. The United States is the biggest donor to Afghanistan’s economic development programs. Japan, the host of the conference, announced a pledge of $5 billion over five years. Germany, another large contributor, would give an estimated $550 million for the next four years, said Dirk Niebel, the minister for economic cooperation and development. Diplomats at the conference said they were pleased with the pledge of $16 billion. The Japanese government said international donors had spent $35 billion on economic development in Afghanistan in the past decade, about twice that committed on Sunday for the next four years. With recession in Europe and war fatigue in the United States, the possibility of cutbacks in aid for infrastructure projects, schools and health clinics seemed real, several diplomats said. Before the Tokyo conference, the Afghan government trimmed estimates of what it said it needed in order to fit the outcome on Sunday. The governor of the Afghan Central Bank said several weeks ago that up to $7 billion annually would be needed to accelerate economic development. Last week, Mr. Karzai said $4 billion would be sufficient, and the World Bank estimated that Afghanistan needed $3.9 billion a year through 2024 to boost development. Money for the Afghan Army and police forces is separate from that raised in Tokyo. Financing for the Afghan security forces after 2014 is expected to total about $4.1 billion a year. Beyond the $16 billion, other financing that has been pumped into the Afghan economy through the decade of war would be reduced as countries withdraw military and diplomatic personnel in the next few years, said Brian Katulis, a senior fellow for national security at the Center for American Progress in Washington. “With many countries heading for the exits and drawing down both military and diplomatic personnel in the next few years, the Afghan government is going to see a reduction in the amount of money it gets from the international community in any case,” Mr. Katulis said. If the Afghan authorities fail to do a better job curbing corruption, “then the whole framework for international support could collapse,” he said. After addressing the conference Mrs. Clinton met with the Pakistani foreign minister, Hina Rabbani Khar, for a one-on-one discussion, their first meeting since Pakistan, seven months ago, closed down the route that the United States military uses to transport supplies to Afghanistan. Last week, the route was reopened after Mrs. Clinton issued a statement saying that the United States was “sorry” for the deaths of two dozen Pakistani soldiers in American airstrikes last November. The route’s closing forced Washington to redirect supplies at a cost of more than $1 billion, and threatened to hurt the United States’ counterterrorism efforts. In the meeting with Ms. Khar, and at a later session with Ms. Khar and the Afghan foreign minister, Zalmai Rassoul, Mrs. Clinton emphasized again the need for Pakistan to shut down the Haqqani terrorist network that has mounted attacks in Afghanistan against American and NATO targets, a senior State Department official said.