Afghan President Hamid Karzai will make a four-day visit to Japan beginning Feb. 20 to attend an international conference to help establish peace in Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said Friday.
It will be Karzai's second visit to Japan. He attended an international conference in Tokyo in January 2002 to discuss the reconstruction of Afghanistan after the removal of the Taliban regime.
During his upcoming visit, Karzai will attend a conference Feb. 22 to focus on disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of former combatants.
Japan has invited nearly 40 nations, including the Group of Eight major countries, and about 10 international organizations.
The security situation in Afghanistan remains volatile. An assassination attempt was made on Karzai in September in the southern province of Kandahar, and Vice President Haji Abdul Qadir was killed in an ambush in July.
Japan has proposed that the Afghan government create an agency to register veterans and help soldiers return to civilian life.