Speaking at the opening of a Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board (JCMB) meeting in Kabul on Wednesday, the United Nation's top official in Afghanistan, Ján Kubiš, reiterated that the international community remains "resolute" in its long-term support for Afghanistan.
"There is no post-2014 discontinuity in assistance, we are not poised at the top of a cliff as some doomsayers predict," Ján Kubiš said.
His comments come at a time when U.S. relations with the Hamid Karzai administration in Kabul have deterioriated over tensions surrounding the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA), prisoner releases and civilian casualties. Washington has warned that a "zero option" course of action - where no U.S. troops stay in Afghanistan post-2014 - has become increasingly likely.
And the fate of financial assistance from the U.S., which would be expected to be in the billions of dollars for the Afghan military alone, is probably to be tied to the residual troop presence.
The Afghan Finance Minister Omar Zakhelwal also addressed the conference on Wednesday, and spoke about Afghanistan living up to its promises made at the Tokyo summit in 2012, where the international community and Afghan government first made commitements to each other regarding cooperation post-2014.
"The mutual obligations established during the Tokyo conference, on our part, we have achieved visible success," Zakhelwal said. "The government of Afghanistan has successfully completed 13 commitments out of the 17 within the framework of the Tokyo conference and we have received tangible growth in implementing the other four items."
In Tokyo, the international community pledged to provide some four billion dollars in financial assistance to Afghanistan on an annual basis until the end of 2015.
In addition, Kubiš called on the Afghan government and electoral institutions to work hard for holding a free, fair and transparent elections in April. Many in the international community have expressed concerns about the potential for electoral improprieties this election season.
One of the key areas the international community and Afghanistan are working together on regarding the elections is the use of polling monitors. Hundreds, if not thousands, of international observers are expected to participate in the elections.