An AFG indicator in May

Pledging and then providing are two different things - but it will be interesting to see the breakout on this in May.

An international conference on the future of Afghanistan is to be hosted by Nato in Chicago in May, when donor nations will be asked to contribute $4.3 billion (£2.7 billion) a year after 2014 to maintain the country's reconstruction effort after three decades of incessant conflict. Washington has indicated that it is prepared to contribute £1.75 billion, with the remainder coming from Europe and other states, such as Japan and Australia, that are currently supporting the Nato mission.

Chicago is a strange place to hold such a summit ... but sobeit.

What we do know is this - the promises made from forces on the ground by NATO when it took over the AFG operation in '05/06 were never met.

The Germans with the police, the Italians(!), with the judicial system, and the others who promised much out of the Bonn Agreement never came to pass - so what should we expect?

That is something I plan on writing more about in the coming months. Most of you know where this is heading, so we might as well flesh it out.