KABUL, Afghanistan, Oct. 13 — The Afghan government won a resounding endorsement from international donors today for its budget and development plan to lift Afghanistan out of destitution and work toward self-sufficiency, positioning it well to win badly needed long-term assistance.
The transitional government of President Hamid Karzai is still searching for $90 million to fill the gaps in its $460 million national budget for this year. But beyond everyday expenses and emergency aid, Afghan officials and donors estimate that the government will need at least $10 billion more to rebuild the country's shattered infrastructure and develop an economy that can sustain its people.
Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani, a former World Bank official, presented a comprehensive plan at a weekend meeting here between Afghan ministers and international donors, which concluded today. The meeting did not bring in any new pledges of money, but it was intended as a preparatory discussion ahead of a second donors' meeting in February, Mr. Ghani said.
Mr. Ghani, the driving force behind the government's efforts to be taken seriously by donors and international financial institutions, emphasized the government's determination to ensure openness and fiscal accountability.
He announced six priority areas for development: education, roads, water and power, rebuilding of government buildings nationwide, water and sanitation in the cities and rural development.
Mr. Karzai, opening the meeting on Saturday, delivered a message of gratitude for the response when countries pledged over $5 billion for Afghanistan at an initial donors' meeting in Tokyo in January. "The international community has been nice to us," he said.
But he added some sharp messages, too, for donors not to bypass the government, and a strong appeal for assistance that would help the country develop its institutions so it could manage its own affairs.
"Of course we recognize that international help should not, and cannot, go on for ever," he said. "And if we do not raise Afghan expertise, four years from now there will not be so much love for us."
Foreign officials attending the meeting were full of praise for the four-month-old government's political and economic vision. In a major vote of confidence in the government's competence and fiscal accountability, they agreed to direct much of their future assistance through Kabul instead of outside agencies.
Mieko Nishimizu, vice president of the World Bank for the South Asia region, said the program had the full support of the World Bank. "It merits our intent to buy in," she said.
"I have never seen anything like it," she said at a news conference after the meeting ended. "It was an extraordinary meeting — not just in the substance of policies and programs articulated by the government, but at the same time extraordinary in the enlightened leadership of the cabinet and government of Afghanistan."
She said she had been impressed by the commitment government ministers showed to meeting the needs of their people. "It was also moving," she said. "There was no faking here."
The ministers were speaking from here, deep down," she said, placing her fist below her heart.
Nigel Fisher, the deputy United Nations special representative to Afghanistan, said, "The government has taken a giant step forward with the presentation of its national budget."
"The vision presented provides a common basis for moving forward on Afghanistan's reconstruction priorities and for addressing the root causes of vulnerability still faced by many Afghans; poverty, illiteracy and insecurity," he added. "We all share this vision and are all committed to moving forward on that basis."
Mr. Karzai, who survived an assassination attempt last month, arrived at the opening of the meeting with heavy security, provided by a force of both Afghan and American bodyguards.
The Americans, bearded and in uniform, with an array of assault rifles, pistols on their thighs, walkie-talkies and earpieces, took up positions at the doors of the hall and the terraces outside while Mr. Karzai spoke. Afghan soldiers closed the street outside and ordered pedestrians to the other side of the street.
In his speech, Mr. Karzai described how upset he was to hear earlier this year that $890 million had been spent on aid in Afghanistan, but that $800 million of it had gone to the United Nations and other aid agencies.
The government, which has barely any revenues of its own, is struggling to pay salaries of its employees. Junior police officers and soldiers have gone unpaid for the last year and often resort to looting and robbery.
Mr. Karzai made a strong pitch for more long-term assistance, after this year of emergency aid, that would help Afghanistan stand on its own feet as quickly as possible.
"We would like very soon to be able to produce our own food and to be able to stand on our own feet and definitely, definitely not to need humanitarian assistance," he said.
The plans announced by Mr. Ghani would easily use up the remaining $2.5 billion of the international money pledged over five years. About $2 billion has been spent already, the greater part of it on aid to individuals in need, in an effort that has widely bypassed the government.
The United Nations special representative to Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, said international assistance to date had not been enough to bring back peace and stability to the country.
"Without massive nationwide large-scale investment, the country cannot handle some of the most immediate peace-building tasks," he told the meeting. "Fighters wishing to lay down their guns must be confident that there is a job for them to go to."
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