US President George W. Bush announced a joint Saudi, US and Japanese aid package of $180 million for road construction to cash-strapped Afghanistan, as he met Afghan President Hamid Karzai and promised long-term commitment to the central Asian nation.
"Our commitment to a stable and free and peaceful Afghanistan is a long-term commitment and we are confident in your leadership," Bush told Karzai, who last week survived an assassination attempt.
Bush noted the attempt during the two leaders' meeting and urged the Afghan leader to be careful, a US official said.
Bush and Karzai also discussed a desire to expedite the buildup of the Afghan national army and cooperation on tracking down militant groups in the border area with Pakistan, the official said.
Karzai, who met with Bush at the US mission to the United Nations, called the aid package "a step in the right direction toward self-reliance in Afghanistan".
But shortly afterwards he again appealed to rich nations to honour their pledges to rebuild his shattered country during his speech to the UN General Assembly, his first ever.
And he emphasised that his top priority was to establish a national army and police if his country was to cope with violence. But in contrast to many other speeches, he did not again appeal for an expansion of international peacekeepers, who are guarding the capital Kabul only.
"Terrorism and violence are against the teaching of Islam, a religion that stands for peace, respect for human dignity, dialogue, and tolerance," he said.
"The Taliban, who destroyed our country and cultural heritage, did not represent Afghans and we do not consider the Al Qaeda to represent the Arab world, and neither one represents Islam," Karzai said.
The new joint project will rebuild a severely damaged, 965-km road linking the major cities of Kabul, Kandahar and Herat. A US official said the United States would contribute $80 million, while Japan and Saudi Arabia would pitch in $50 million each.
The United States will seek additional donations to meet the total estimated cost of $250 million for the project, which is expected to take three years, the official said.
The construction, together with other road projects financed by international donors, is intended to help revive the impoverished economy, improve trade links in Afghanistan and within the region, and create desperately needed jobs.
"The Afghan people... would like to have some bread on their table, and they would also like to, in some time, make that bread themselves," Karzai said.
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told Karzai during a bilateral meeting that he hoped construction would begin by winter, a Japanese official said.
More than $1.8 billion was committed by international donors this year at a Tokyo meeting on Afghan reconstruction.
Some $800 million to $900 million has already been spent, but it went mainly on humanitarian assistance - including food and medicine - and emergency repair work like fixing airports and providing snow removal equipment to keep vital roads open during the winter.
Karzai is guarded by US special forces troops, who last week opened fire on and killed two assailants in the southern city of Kandahar.
The assassination attempt and a car bombing just hours earlier underscored the fragility of Karzai's government, which was cobbled together from diverse rival factions that joined in the overthrow of the Taliban when the United States attacked Afghanistan after September 11.