United Nations Secretary- General Kofi Annan on Wednesday called donors to pay more attention to Afghan interim government's pressing reconstruction needs despite a long-term commitment of over 4.5 billion U.S. dollars.

Briefing the U.N. Security Council on his recent trip to Asia, including Japan where he attended the January 20-21 Tokyo conference on reconstruction of Afghanistan and to Afghanistan itself on January 25, Annan said there are "some critical gaps" between international pledges and Afghanistan's needs. "The conference focused on long-term needs, but the Afghan Interim Administration needs money today, for example to pay the salaries of public servants," he said.

U.N. agencies put Afghan reconstruction costs at 15 billion dollars for the next ten years as the country has suffered conflict of more than two decades and drought in the last three years. At the same time, some 1.8 billion dollars is needed to meet recurrent costs including salaries of public servants.

Calling security the number one preoccupation in Afghanistan, the U.N. chief said without resources, the interim government " will quickly lose credibility" and will be unable to extend its authority over the country, thus undermining the chances of success of the longer-term peace process.

Annan told the council that Pakistan and Iran, both Afghanistan 's neighbors which he visited during the January 20-27 trip, pledged to cooperate with Karzai's new government. Such cooperation in the region "holds great promise" for Afghanistan's future, Annan said, hoping that it will be "a major pillar" of the U.N. strategy in confronting the challenge facing Afghanistan's peace and reconstruction.

The secretary-general stressed the need for immediate military de-escalation in the Indian-Pakistani conflict and for a sustained and determined dialogue. He renewed his offer of good offices if both parties wish him to do so. On Middle East, the subject he touched on with Iranian and Qatar leaders, Annan said the international community needs to get Palestinians and Israelis back to the negotiating table to address all issues, terrorism and the Israeli occupation included.

"Without this wider political context, and without some alleviation of the humanitarian plight of the Palestinians, I fear that progress will be nearly impossible and the risk of further violence all too great," he warned.

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