Japan is slated to fund a five-billion-dollar program to help rebuild conflict-torn Afghanistan's infrastructure over a five-year period.

According to the Nikkei Business Daily on Saturday, the Japanese Premier Yukio Hatoyama has outlined a proposal that covers assistance with water control and irrigation for the Afghan agricultural sector.

The aid-program, which will start in 2010, will also help build Afghanistan's roads, and train former militants for new jobs.

Hatoyama plans to announce the initiative and present its details during the US President Barack Obama's upcoming visit to Japan in mid-November.

Afghanistan has been left without a proper infrastructure following years of conflict and neglect particularly after the US-led invasion of the country in 2001.

Japan's new government which has vowed to pursue a foreign policy independent of the US, says it will replace its refueling mission in Afghanistan with humanitarian aid.

Japanese foreign ministry said in October that Tokyo's new way of contributing to the effort in Afghanistan will be in the form of humanitarian aid, which will include training former Taliban soldiers.

The initiative is to provide vocational training -- mainly to former Taliban members. The mission will help pave the way to reducing poverty among the former militants as many young men join the Taliban movement for money, it added.

HRF/DT