BERLIN, April 1 (IslamONline.net & News Agencies) - Donor nations have pledged more than eight billion dollars over three years in aid for Afghanistan at an international conference in Berlin ending Thursday, April 1.

A report drawn up by the Kabul government together with the United Nations, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank showed that Afghanistan needed 27.5 billion dollars over seven years for reconstruction, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The two-day conference, aimed at assessing security and rebuilding needs, was attended by hundreds of officials.

The U.N. envoy for Afghanistan said Thursday that he had been "encouraged" by the results of the conference, but warned that key problems remained.

Jean Arnault told AFP that the ministers and officials gathered in Berlin had given "a vote of confidence" to the government in Afghanistan.

"I'm encouraged," he said, firstly because the international community was acknowledging that Afghanistan was going to need its ongoing commitment.

"I think the participants were unanimous in thinking that the elections in 2004 are not going to be the end," he said.

"The second thing that encouraged us ... is that the elections are not just a matter of enabling 10 million Afghans to vote."

He acknowledged that it posed "enormous" tasks of demobilization, deploying Afghan and international forces and improving political conditions.

What was important, he said, was that "there is a realization that it's not just an electoral process, there has to be a transformation of the political and military landscape within six months."

But while the sum for the 2004 financial year surpassed expectations, experts said not enough money was promised to allow President Hamid Karzai to plan ahead long-term.

"For three years, the government is saying it needs 11.9 billion dollars and the pledges announced so far ... only total 8.2 billion for that three-year period," said CARE International advocacy director Kevin Henry.

"Four-point-five billion (this year) is a very satisfactory outcome, but unless that is followed by additional commitments over the next two years, it will not be adequate."

Henry noted that financial commitments from the United States and Japan, two of the biggest donors, were only made for the next two years.

"Can we maintain that after the next U.S. elections, can we maintain that two or three years from now? I think that will be an even bigger challenge," he said.

Barbara Stapleton, advocacy and policy coordinator for the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief, agreed, asserting the conference also failed to address the security concerns.

"I'm very disappointed. The measures that have been announced will not substantially alter the situation," she lamented.

Stapleton said that a pledge to create new provincial reconstruction teams (PRTs), which are aimed at helping building begin in areas outside the capital Kabul and broadening government influence, was insufficient to provide security.

"We've got only a handful of political parties registered, there's been no civic education and the Afghan people are largely ignorant about the process despite all the rhetoric about their involvement," she said.

"We have a number of different forces which are de-legitimizing the election process and the over-arching one is the lack of security."

Earlier this week, members of Afghan civil society also expressed fears that the security issues would not be resolved before the elections.

"We are deeply concerned that it will not be possible to hold free and fair elections by September given the current security situation and the fact that meaningful processes of consultation with Afghan people have yet to begin," they said in a statement.

Former Afghan minister and intellectual, Farouk Azam, also acknowledged that security was a major concern, but said it was equally important to convince people to accept Karzai's government.