US confident about Afghan polls despite delay

The United States is confident delayed elections in Afghanistan will go ahead in September despite chronic lawlessness, a senior envoy said Monday ahead of an aid conference for the war-torn country.
William Taylor, the US co-ordinator for Afghanistan, also said this week's Berlin conference would underline the international community's staunch backing for rebuilding Afghanistan after two decades of war.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced Sunday that the country's first elections since the fall of the Taleban regime would be delayed by three months to September.
The election process has been hampered by low voter registration, threats by Taleban remnants, and security problems in large parts of Afghanistan's south and south-east.
Taylor acknowledged it would be a tall order to complete the voter registration in time with only 1.6 million people registered so far out of an estimated eligible population of 10 million.
"The challenge is a daunting one," he told Brussels-based reporters via video-link from Berlin. "But the United Nations has indicated that with adequate resources and with adequate security, it can be done. I'm optimistic," Taylor said.
The US government has pledged one billion dollars in assistance to Afghanistan at the donors' meeting in Berlin on Wednesday and Thursday, out of a likely total to be promised of four billion dollars.
Taylor stressed that the international community would work hard on rebuilding Afghanistan's shattered infrastructure to boost economic development, which now is largely reliant on the drugs trade.
And Nato peacekeepers would spread out further into the country from Kabul in the form of provincial reconstruction teams (PRTs), he said.
"Security for the election is a very important prerequisite for a successful election." Taylor said the Berlin conference was likely to see the Afghan government sign a comprehensive new anti-narcotics strategy with Britain, which is leading the drive to eradicate opium production.
"Everyone recognises the importance of attacking this scourge," he said, while stressing that Afghan farmers had to be offered a financial alternative to poppy growing as well as road-building to get their crops to market.
Afghanistan is the world's biggest producer of poppy-derived opium used to make heroin.
Afghan Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali is overseeing a new programme to eradicate poppy production, starting with three key provinces this week.
Taylor said Jalali's personal involvement would prove more effective than previous drives encouraged by US authorities.