The Afghan Government has said it wants to raise more international funds to rebuild the country and its battered economy.
Kabul says it needs $1.5bn for reconstruction this year alone
The government said it had received far less money than several other countries recovering from conflict.
In comparison with other recent post-conflict settings, such as Bosnia, Rwanda and Kosovo, disbursements per capita are far lower in Afghanistan than in other countries
Afghan Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers said he feared the current stand-off with Iraq was distracting donors' attention.
He said it would be a "fateful mistake" if possible donors would fail to live up to pledges to build a peaceful Afghanistan in accordance with
promises made after the Taliban regime was ousted in 2001.
New donor conference
Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai told reporters $4.5bn pledged by the international community last year after the Taliban regime was ousted was not enough to pay for the huge cost of re-building the war-torn country.
"In comparison with other recent post-conflict settings, such as Bosnia, Rwanda and Kosovo, disbursements per capita are far lower in Afghanistan than in other countries," he said.
Mr Ahmadzai unfolded plans for a conference to be held in Brussels later this month to raise more money to rebuild the country.
"There is urgent need to shift gears and increase pledging levels in order to meet the huge scale of Afghanistan's
reconstruction needs," he said.
The conference comes at a time when the attention of the international community has shifted from Afghanistan to a possible war with Iraq.
Donors pledged $1.24bn for Afghanistan at a conference
in Oslo in December, although it was clear how much of this was new
money or included in the sum promised earlier in Tokyo.
In 2001, the World Bank and the United Nations said Afghanistan needed about $10bn for reconstruction.
Mr Ahmadzai said that for the fiscal year beginning 21 March, his country needed $1.5bn for reconstruction projects and an additional $500m for administrative costs.