US pledges $1bn in aid to Afghanistan

The United States will pledge an additional $1 billion in reconstruction aid for Afghanistan at a donors conference in Berlin…

The United States will pledge an additional $1 billion in reconstruction aid for Afghanistan at a donors conference in Berlin later this month, U.S.Secretary of State Colin Powell has confirmed.

"The United States will make another significant contribution at that conference -- another billion dollars on top of the $1.2 billion we have already committed," Mr Powell told a group of Afghan women in Kabul.

"So this year it will be $2.2 billion."

Afghanistan is seeking $25 billion in reconstruction aid over the next seven years and another $3.5 billion in budget support over the same period at the Berlin conference.

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Powell arrived in Kabul earlier on Wednesday, the latest stop on a tour of South Asia.