Donor fatigue, mission creep and growing doubts about his leadership. These are some of the realities that will confront Hamid Karzai, the former darling of the international circuit, as he faces a cooler than usual reception at the critical donor conference in Paris today, where he will plead for record funds to complete the rebuilding of Afghanistan.

President Karzai is seeking £25 billion from 80 countries for his Afghan National Development Strategy, a five-year plan that, he will argue, is critical to stop Afghanistan sliding back into poverty and chaos – a breeding ground for global terrorism.

Britain and America have backed him by promising substantial pledges and lobbying other countries to join them, especially those who do not currently commit troops. Even among these old allies the nagging doubts about the governance of Mr Karzai linger and more sceptical Western donors have demanded a critical review of his performance and the failure to tackle corruption.

British and American officials said that they will be happy if the pledges exceed the £5.25 billion raised at the London conference two years ago. Washington has pledged £5 billion already.

On the eve of the conference the Afghan Government announced that it had seized 237 tonnes of hashish, the biggest single drugs seizure in history and doubtless the best timed.

David Miliband praised it as reflecting “the efforts of the Afghan Government against the drug trade”. He said: “Britain and the rest of the international community will continue to do everything we can to support the Afghan Government in its fight against the narcotics trade.”

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