Donors pledge $20bn in Afghan aid

by Sanjay Jha | June 12, 2008 at 10:42 pm | 91 views | add comment | 0 recommendations

Hamid Karzai - World Economic Forum Annual Meeting Davos 2008

Donors from about 80 countries have pledged to give $20 bn aid to Afghanistan for rebuilding in the one-day event on Afghanistan's future since the fall of the Taleban in 2001. Since 2001 donors have already pledged $25bn in aid for Afghanistan, although only $15bn has been handed over. But little prgress have been made in last couple of years.

World donors have pledged about $20bn (£10bn) to rebuild Afghanistan - but want more done to stamp out corruption and co-ordinate relief efforts.
The US led the way, committing $10.2bn, and there were big pledges from the World Bank, UK, Japan and others.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai had asked those present at the Paris conference for $50bn over the next five years.
Critics say Afghanistan does not have the capacity to spend the money it already has, let alone bid for more.
Pledges were always expected to fall well short of the target set by Mr Karzai, who faces growing international scrutiny ahead of elections next year.
The Afghan president said his country needed "large amounts of aid", but stressed that how it was spent was "just as important".