KABUL 'NEEDS AID IN WAR ON DRUGS'

President Hamid Karzai has called for more international help to fight drug
production in Afghanistan.

Speaking at a major aid conference in Berlin, he said drugs were
undermining the "very existence" of his country.

Afghanistan is the world's biggest producer of poppy-derived opium, which
is used to make heroin.

The two-day Berlin conference, attended by officials from 50 countries, is
considering fresh aid to Kabul - which is seeking $27.5bn over seven years.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, the host, urged the world to "stress
its commitment to a secure, free and democratic Afghanistan".

The UN has warned Afghanistan is in danger of becoming entirely dependent
on the illegal drugs trade and reverting to chaos unless it receives
sufficient foreign aid.

Mr Karzai urged the world community to help destroy opium plantations and
find alternative crops for farmers.

He said the problem was "too huge" for his country to face alone.

"Afghanistan's agriculture, Afghanistan's economy, Afghanistan's way of
life, Afghanistan's tradition and culture is being threatened by drugs," he
said at the conference.

One of the world's poorest countries, Afghanistan remains a security
concern for Western countries, two years after US-led forced ousted the
Taleban.

Much of the country is controlled by warlords and drug production -
estimated at $2.3bn in 2003 by the United Nations-is rising.

The BBC's Andrew North says that an opium farmer may be earning 10 times as
much as the government soldier or policeman whose job it is to enforce the
law against growing the crop.

'Modest demands'

The Berlin conference follows a first donor conference held in Japan in
2002 and will consider a report submitted by the Afghan government and
institutions like the World Bank.

The World Bank's country director for Afghanistan, Alastair McKechnie, has
defended the amount of development aid being sought by Kabul.

He put the total cost of two decades of war at about $240bn.

PLEDGES TO DATE

US: $1.2bn in 2004 with a further pledge of $1bn expected Japan: $400m over
two years EU: $297.5m in 2004 Germany: $390m over four years

Key test of nation-building Desperately poor economy

"The figure of $27.5bn may seem a lot but it will simply help Afghanistan
get back on the track from which its people were brutally wrenched in the
late seventies," he said.

Afghan Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani said that new investment would nurture
the hope of peace whilst international neglect would spell "dire
consequences" for both Afghanistan and the region.

"We are not asking for the Mercedes Benz (of development assistance
programmes) - we are asking for a bicycle," Mr Ghani told delegates.

There have also been serious outbreaks of fighting in various parts of the
country, with the central government controlling only the capital.

The Afghan government has been forced to delay presidential and
parliamentary elections scheduled for June until September because of
security concerns and problems with voter registration.