Japan to pay Afghan police salaries

[unhappycamper]

Japan to pay Afghan police salaries
By Foster Klug - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Mar 9, 2009 18:05:57 EDT

WASHINGTON — Japan will pay six months’ salary for Afghanistan’s 80,000 police officers, an effort to curb violence so aid workers can attend to urgent humanitarian needs, two senior Japanese envoys said Monday.

The $124 million for police salaries comes as Afghanistan prepares for crucial August elections.

The money will be handed over by the end of this month for distribution by a United Nations Development Program fund, Japan’s special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Motohide Yoshikawa, and President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency Sadako Ogata told reporters after meeting with the U.S. representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke.

The money, they said, is part of a $300 million Japanese package that also will pay for child vaccines and new clinics, teachers and schools. Japan has pledged $2 billion in aid for Afghanistan, of which nearly $1.5 billion has been handed out.

The envoys’ visit coincides with the Obama administration’s review of U.S. policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The administration has been reaching out to allies for help on ways to combat growing violence that has spread throughout Afghanistan over the past three years.


Rest of article at: http://armytimes.com/news/2009/03/ap_japan_afghan_police_salaries_030909w/%2e