(IPS) news feature

War-torn Afghanistan received pledges of US$4.5 billion from international donors at the end of a pledging conference here recently, but the rocky, at times risky, road to rebuilding is actually just about to start.

Hamid Karzai, head of the interim authority of Afghanistan, promised that the nation would prove itself competent to become a member of the international community.

''We must look to the future,'' Karzai told a news conference later. ''It is our job to see that Afghanistan moves forward towards democracy and transparency, and that its people have a new life again.''

Both Afghan and foreign participants, which included US secretary of state Colin Powell, United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan, and top-level aid agencies at the conference, applauded the outpouring of aid for rebuilding one of the poorest countries in the world.

The conference, co-hosted by Japan, the US, the European Union and Saudi Arabia, was attended by 61 countries and 21 aid agencies. More than US$1.8 billion will be given to Afghanistan in the first year, and US$4.5 billion over the next few years.

Japan offered up to US$500 million over the first 30 months and the United States US$300 million for the first year. The European Union pledged about US$500 million this year, and Saudi Arabia US$220 million over the next three years.

The World Bank and Asian Development Bank each offered to provide US$500 million over the next two and a half years. Pakistan, which had previously recognised the Taliban, promised US$100 million over five years.

Driving seat

But beyond a discussion of the aid figures, the conference also allowed the characteristics of how foreign assistance can be most effective to take shape.

Afghan officials say the assistance must come quickly to make a difference in a country where just about everything, from government buildings to schools to basic infrastructure, needs to be reworked after 23 years of conflict.

UN and some donor agencies said the funds must go to priorities that are also shared by the international community, ranging from agriculture, a financial system and education for girls.

They also said that Kabul must take care that assistance it receives is used and monitored efficiently.

''We also hope the pledges are made true immediately,'' Karzai remarked. ''Pledges are not enough,'' said Chris Patten, European Union commissioner for external relations. ''It is extremely important we work quickly to translate paper into actual checks.''

Donors also stressed that Afghanistan will be in the driving seat of its development process as outlined in the Bonn international meeting last year, another point that has gone down well with Afghans.

Overall, aid experts pointed out that the commitments made in Tokyo are on the higher end of what was expected.

The World Bank and other development organisations estimate that US$15 billion will be needed over a decade to rebuild Afghanistan after 23 years of war.

''Personally, I am satisfied that we made a very good start, because I think we've got breathing room for 12 months to get this things started,'' World Bank President James Wolfensohn said Tuesday.

Discussions behind closed doors centred on the urgent, short-term aid policies needed to prop up the Afghan Interim Authority and to set up basic structures in the country.

Money is needed for salaries of government workers in Afghanistan, who were paid this week for the first time in months.

Funds are also required for the establishment of the government's administrative machinery, the construction of buildings for ministries, schools and hospitals, as well as for the development of training programmes for teachers and doctors.

The reconstruction of the agricultural sector, which is the foundation of the local economy, was also outlined during the pledging conference.

Women's affairs ministry

Sadako Ogata, who co-chaired the meeting and is Japan's envoy on Afghan affairs, pointed out that many aspects of reconstruction go hand in hand. For instance, she said that while women's rights were high on the development agenda, the issue must first be handled with building basic infrastructure.

''For the first time in Afghanistan's history, there will be the establishment of a ministry for women's affairs. But the idea is still on paper for we have to still locate and construct a building for housing the ministry,'' Ogata, formerly head of the UN High Commission for Refugees, told reporters.

Afghanistan has emerged through several rounds of conflict with a virtually destroyed society.

Statistics show that more than quarter of its more than 26 million people are dependent on food trucked into their areas, life expectancy is only up to 44 years and only 10 percent of the country's infrastructure can be still used.

World Bank figures say illiteracy among adult males is 48.1 percent and among women, 78.1 percent. In 1999, only a third of children were enrolled in school. Seventy percent of the Afghan population is malnourished, according to UN data.

Beyond this, however, another area worth watching is the sustainability of the huge aid effort underway in Afghanistan, as donor governments grapple with domestic political pressure in their countries.

Indeed, most of the donor governments' pledges are for the next year or little longer. Some - like the US government whose treasury secretary Paul O'Neill said Washington was ''committed'' to the rebuilding of Afghanistan because this marks the ''completing part of the war against terrorism'' - made pledges for the coming year.

To develop a sustainable approach to raising resources for Afghanistan, the World Bank and other institutions have set up a trust fund for donors like Norway and the Netherlands, to be used in the longer term to support administration costs.

The Dutch government pledged US$63 million dollars into this trust fund, becoming the first donor to do so.