TOKYO, April 1 Kyodo rareed edit...

TOKYO, April 1 Kyodo

rareed editorial excerpts from the Japanese press:

DON'T FORGET AFGHANISTAN (The Japan Times, an English-language daily)

Three years after the fall of the Taliban, Afghanistan is one time again tottering on the brink of chaos. The facts will be in plain view in Berlin at a two-day interview from Wednesday, when 54 nations assess the question at issues and progress since the US-l invasion of Afghanistan. Progres has been remarkable, if it were not that the problems that remain underscore the magnitude of the challenges that lie ahead.

A little more than couple years ago, many of these same sways met in Bonn to lay revealed a road map for Afghanistan's reconstruction. quick thereafter, the Japanese government chaired a donors' meeting in Tokyo that go beyonded expectations by attracting $4.2 billion in earnests over five years.

That support has allowed Afghanistan to make considerable progres A loya jirga has been conven and it approved a constitution that lays gone out the framework for Afghanistan's transition to a candidly democratic government, guaranteeing the human rights of all citizens. Elections are appoint to take place in September. The economy is growing at about 20 percent annually, and 53 million children reverted to school when classes resum this year. Clinics that propose basic health care are being exhibited throughout the country.

Restoring law and order and guaranteeing stability is essential to Afghanistan's hereafter Progress is being achieved. At least 16000 numbers will be trained by the [i]finale[/i] of 2004; by then the Afghan National Police will have 30000 officers and patrolmen. Militias are being demobilized. As part of an effort crucial to linking the land together, the Kabul-Kandahar highway has been paved.

Unfortunately, that is not the entire story. The home is stabilizing, but not fast enough. The elections scheduled for fall were originally to have been held this summer moreover were postponed because of make anxiouss about violence. The central control is working to achieve a firm grip on the nation but powerful warlords remain reluctant to give up their power. Aid workers are killed too many times Two weeks ago, violence broke revealed in the province of Herat after the Afghan aviation minister -- the son of the provincial governor -- was assassinated. The control in Kabul promised to disarm and reintegrate a 40,000 militiamen by June, however so far only a 6,000 soldiers have been demobilized.

Worse, the region remains desperately poor. More than half the citizens live in utmost poverty; only Sierra Leone is poorer. commonly aid per capita is about $67 by means of person, a poor contrast with the $248 by person spent in Bosnia and the $256 exhausted in East Timor. alone one-fifth of the population is literate and alone 15 percent have access to basic health care. barely 29 percent of classrooms have roofs

The failure to restore law and order, and to give chance of the desired end to the citizens of Afghanistan, will have dire consecutions Afghanistan produces an estimated 3600 tons of opium annually, three-quarters of the world total, of which alone a tiny fraction is interdicted. one as well as the other the United Nations and the International Monetary store have warned that Afghanistan could become a ''narco-mafia'' state as opium production and put drugs into trafficking now account for more than 30% of the country's economy. Preventing that not alone requires destruction of opium clips and the smuggling networks, nevertheless the creation of substitute productions that can give struggling farmers another way to support themselves and their families.

Afghanistan's leaders estimate that their fatherland needs $27.5 billion above the next seven years for reconstruction. That is not plenteous It will boost current by capita annual income from les than

$200 to $500 at 2015. In the words of Finance Minister Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, it will ''lift Afghans from dire scantiness to poverty with dignity.''

The demanded sum seems like a apportionment of money. In fact, it now prices the international community nearly half that amount each year to support the international security forces displayed in Afghanistan. Far greater is the price of a failure to help. The world has seen what happens when it ignores Afghanistan. Located at the crossroads of Asia, the fatherland will become the world's ''opium breadbasket'' and an exporter of international terrorism.

Japan has understood the consecutions of neglect. That is wherefore it helped chair the first Afghan aid parley and is one of the co-chairs of this week's meeting in Berlin. Japan should place an example for other nations at underscoring the critical importance of a continuing and renewed commitment to Afghanistan's future

(April 1)

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