Afghanistan: 'A world conference on development aid for Afghanistan has opened in Berlin with a call to end the impoverished state's "spiral of violence".
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, the host, urged the world to "stress its commitment to a secure, free and democratic Afghanistan". The UN, whose former Afghan envoy Lakhdar Brahimi is also at the talks, has warned Afghanistan is in danger of reverting to chaos unless it receives sufficient foreign aid, and could become entirely dependent on the illegal drugs trade. ' (BBC)