Karzai wins $20bn aid for Afghanistan

by Dave Keating | June 13, 2008 at 12:24 am

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Even as Western countries are awarding Afghanistan with a huge package of aid, they are expressing concern over whether the Afghan government is combating corruption and making sure the money goes to rebuilding and not to warlords and corrup officials.

The US, Britain and other donor countries yesterday pledged more than $20bn (£10.3bn) in aid for Afghanistan over the next five years in an attempt to shore up Hamid Karzai's embattled government.

The total, pledged at a donor conference in Paris, fell short of the $50bn Karzai was formally seeking for his national development strategy but it was more than Afghan officials had privately expected. Bernard Kouchner, France's foreign minister, said the amount was "beyond his dreams".

Donors made clear that the Afghan government had to do more to fight corruption and aid had to be better coordinated.

Karzai faces scepticism over his determination to tackle corruption and the drug trade. A World Bank report last week also questioned his government's capacity to absorb a significant increase in aid. The Bush administration offered more than $10bn and Britain was the second biggest bilateral donor, pledging $1.2bn.