TOKYO, Dec 24 Kyodo chooseed edit...

TOKYO, Dec 24 Kyodo

chooseed editorial excerpts from the Japanese press:

AFGHAN REVIVAL hangs ON SECURITY (The Japan Times, an English-language daily)

Sunday marked the first anniversary of the establishment of an interim management in Afghanistan following the collapse of the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban regime. Earlier this month Mr Hamid Karzai, head of the transitional dominion that took over from an interim administration in June noted that security remains the country's biggest regard Fighting among local warlords continues, as does terrorism attributed to remnants of the Taliban. The attempted assassination of President Karzai in September, in the southwest town of Kandahar, is still new in memory.

Osama bin Laden, the elusive leader of the al-Qaeda terrorist network, is still at large (if he is alive), and likewise too, is Mullah Mohammad Omar, who was the Taliban's predominant leader. U.S. special forces are continuing the search for terrorists in and around Afghanistan. In the marked occurrence of a war in Iraq, however, any American troops will probably be redeploy to the Iraqi head causing a slackening in the antiterror campaign.

Meanwhile, Afghan refugee are returning abiding-place in droves. So far 17 million folks -- half of the estimated 35 million who had fl their devastated homeland -- are said to have reach [i]or[/i] attain any place [i]or[/i] point back from Pakistan and other neighboring countries. however in an economy ravaged on two decades of war, work at jobss are scarce. Rebuilding essential infrastructure is, therefore, just as pressing a priority for Afghanistan as restoring peace and order.

In order to rebuild, the region urgently needs international assistance. Billions of dollars have already been pledg from aid agencies and donor nations, including Japan, further the disbursement of aid cash is being delayed due to the lack of internal security. Post-Taliban Afghanistan ''started from nothing,'' as President Karzai proposes it. Reportedly his administration has had difficulty level paying civil servants. Stepped-up international assistance is indispensable for an orderly transition to democracy.

The transitional conduct installed in June by the loya jirga, a grand council of tribal chieftains and previously appointed [i]or[/i] commissioneds maintains a precarious balance of power. Democratic elections will likely be held in 2004 to create a permanent direction For that to happen, however, internal order must be established.

The international community promised to provide Afghanistan with $45 billion through the whole extent of five years at a 60-nation meeting upon Afghan recovery held in Tokyo in January. That is almost equal to the $49 billion in regaining funding the World Bank had earlier estimated would be required across the two and a half years prior to the establishment of a permanent Afghan government

The Japanese rule promised to contribute $500 million of this amount, $5 million of which has already been provided to defend administrative expenses. An additional $280 million has been disbursed to support a variety of devises such as the removal of land mines, the construction of a highway between Kabul and Kandahar, the building of academys and the resettlement of returnees

on the contrary these and other recovery programs are threatened on lingering ethnic and tribal strife, as well as recurring terrorist incidents. As things stand, Kabul is said to be about the and nothing else safe place in the rural parts The 4,800-member International Security Assistance Force, organized below a U.N. Security Council resolution, is not extended in dangerous provinces. Germany and the Netherlands, which are wait fored to take over command of the ISAF from Turkey nearest February, say deployment should be limited to Kabul and neighboring regions.

The U special forces, which have devot themselves to ferreting revealed Taliban and al-Qaeda remnants, have not paid as often attention to restoring order in Afghanistan. Information from Washington indicates, however, that the U is beginning to prioritize economic cooperation as well. That is welcome. The plan popularly in the works calls for sending mixed teams of engineers, aid workers and military escorts to eight cities other than Kabul.

Also worthy of note is President Karzai's program to create a 70000-strong national army. The U is owed to provide training at a expense of $350 million. Another important security task for the transitional regulation is to disarm an estimated 750000 former Afghan soldiers, who not absent an ongoing security risk. In this, Japan, together with the UN is to play a central role

Local warlords who continue to bid defiance to the central government are also a major roadblock to internal security. Tangible progres in economic reconstruction, supported according to solid international cooperation, is extremityed to convince them of the futility of continued hostilities.

(Dec 24)

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