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PARIS-Donors led by the United States pledged more than $15.54 billion in aid for Afghanistan on Thursday but said Kabul must do more to fight corruption and the international assistance must be better coordinated.At a conference in Paris, Washington promised $10.2 billion to help one of the world's poorest countries deal with an insurgency, poverty, drug trafficking and corruption 6-1/2 years after U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban from power.About 6,000 people were killed last year in the insurgency by a rejuvenated Taliban, which has vowed to step up a campaign of suicide bombings to try to break the will of Western public opinion to keep international forces in Afghanistan.More than 50,000 foreign troops are based in the country trying to restore stability following the late 2001 ousting of the Taliban, which had hosted al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden."Afghanistan was taken hostage by a regime allied to terrorism, a regime that represents the very negation of the values of Islam," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said at the start of the conference of 68 nations, including Afghanistan."It is the duty of all democrats to help you," Sarkozy told Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the start of the meeting, attended by representatives from more than 15 international organizations, including U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.Afghanistan asked the donors to help fund a $50 billion five-year development plan and Karzai told the conference that his country needed aid to be better coordinated as well as more help in institution-building to fight corruption."The current development process that is marred by confusion and parallel structures undermines institution building," Karzai said. "While Afghanistan needs large amounts of aid, precisely how aid is spent is just as important."To read more go to:
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