EDIT CONTAINS 4;3 MATERIAL<br/> Many residents in and around Kabul live in abject poverty-- with no signs of improvement.<br/> Half a million people in Afghanistan have been displaced over the past decade due to violence and fighting with problems like hunger and malnutrition getting worse.<br/> In the days before an international conference in Bonn, Germany, residents here say they hope representatives attending the meetings will take their concerns to heart.<br/> (SOUNDBITE) (Dari) RESIDENT AND SPOKESPERSON FOR MIGRANT FAMILIES, MOHAMMAD IBRAHIM, SAYING:<br/> "For almost three years we have lived in a tent. We are demanding the international community and the Afghan President himself provide us with food and shelter because our living conditions are very bad -- we are living in tents as you see."<br/> A conference in Bonn, Germany set for next week was supposed to offer renewed commitments by Western nations to help stabilize the Asian nation as foreign troops prepare for departure.<br/> But as NATO nations face economic crisis' of their own, it's unclear how much help can be offered.<br/> The meeting will also be marred by Pakistan's decision to boycott the meetings after a NATO air strike, aimed a militants, actually killed 24 of its soldiers last weekend.<br/> Pakistan is perhaps the single most critical player in efforts to end Afghan violence.<br/> Julie Noce, Reuters
