Afghanistan's new leader Hamid Karzai plans to attend a ministerial-level meeting in Tokyo in late January on reconstructing Afghanistan, a top Japanese official said Saturday.
Karzai, sworn in earlier in the day in Kabul as head of the post-Taliban interim administration, is expected to attend the donors' meeting being jointly chaired by Japan, the European Union, Saudi Arabia and the United States, said Shigeo Uetake, Japan's senior vice foreign minister.
Japan will likely be represented at the conference by special envoy on Afghanistan Sadako Ogata.
The 30-member Afghan Interim Authority led by the Pashtun tribal leader was officially inaugurated 76 days after the U.S. launched a military campaign to oust the Taliban and capture Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S.
The administration is tasked with laying the groundwork for rebuilding the shattered country after 23 years of war and internecine strife.