Bonn meet pledges long-term help for Afghanistan

'We will not leave you alone, you will not be abandoned':

Germany: A major conference Monday on Afghanistan's future after NATO combat troops leave in 2014 pledged sustained support for another decade, in exchange for clear progress on good governance.

Participants including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon vowed to stand by Afghanistan as it struggles to establish security and stability.

“This renewed partnership between Afghanistan and the international community entails firm mutual commitments in the areas of governance, security, the peace process, economic and social development, and regional cooperation,” the conference's final conclusions said.

“The protection of civilians, strengthening the rule of law and the fight against corruption in all its forms remain key priorities.” President Hamid Karzai told around 1,000 delegates gathered in the western German city of Bonn for the one-day meeting that his government needed long-term international backing.

“We will need your steadfast support for at least another decade” after the troops pull out, he said.

The meeting came 10 years after another conference here put an interim Afghan government under Karzai in place after US-led troops ousted the Taliban in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

However, Pakistan and the Taliban -- both seen as pivotal to any end to the bloody strife in Afghanistan a decade on -- decided to stay away from Bonn, dampening already modest hopes for real progress.

Some 140,000 international troops are in Afghanistan, and all NATO-led combat forces are due to leave by the end of 2014, when Kabul will assume responsibility for the country's security. The event's host, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, insisted there would be no rush to the exit, even as a looming global recession threatens to distract the West from the enormous challenges facing the strife-wracked nation. “We send a clear message to the people of Afghanistan: we will not leave you alone, you will not be abandoned,” he said, pledging help in comments echoed by Merkel in a brief address. AFP