On the eve of President Obama's first visit to Asia in early November 2009, the new Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)-led government announced a new assistance package to Afghanistan amounting to US$5 billion over the next five years to support reconstruction and stabilization. This new package will, in effect, quadruple Japan's annual assistance, making it the second largest financial contributor to Afghanistan's reconstruction among individual donor states after the United States. Kuniko Ashizawa describes Japan's approach to peacebuilding in Afghanistan and other areas of conflict.

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