President Karzai leaves for Japan to attend Tokyo conference

Afghan president Hamid Karzai on Saturday left for Japan to attend Tokyo conference on Afghanistan. Tokyo conference is scheduled to be organized on Sunday where representatives from more than 70 nations and international organizations will participate to discuss crucial future aid to Afghanistan. Afghan presidential palace media office following a statement announced Tokyo conference is vital for the future of Afghanistan where the participants are going to discuss good governance, long term employment opportunities, health, urban administration support and improvement of local governance in Afghanistan. Besides delivering a speech in the conference, the Afghan leader will have a range of bilateral meetings on the sideline of the conference with Japanese Emperor Akihito and other leaders including Japanese Prime Minister (Yoshihiko) Noda and Foreign Minister (Koichiro) Gemba, according to the statement carried by Khaama Press. Karzai will also hold separate meeting with the UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon and French and German foreign ministers, the statement added. Afghanistan will seek at least USD4 billion from international donors. Nations that once gave liberally, however, want more guarantees their taxpayers’ money will not be lost to corruption and mismanagement. Foreign aid in the decade since the U.S. invasion in 2001 has led to better education and health care, with nearly eight million children, including three million girls, enrolled in schools. That compares to one million children more than a decade ago, when girls were banned from school under the Taliban. Improved health facilities have halved child mortality and expanded basic health services to nearly 60 per cent of Afghanistan’s population of more than 25 million compared to less than 10 per cent in 2001.