The United States will pledge about $10 billion in aid for Afghanistan at a donors conference on Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said as she flew to the Paris meeting.
More than six years after U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban regime that sheltered al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, Afghanistan is afflicted by corruption, the drug trade and daily violence.
The Paris conference, which will gather more than 60 countries as well as 15 international organisations, is intended as a show of support for the Afghan people and a chance to review development and security strategy.
International aid efforts have been criticised for not doing enough to coordinate work among donors, integrate security with development and provide money directly through the Afghan government.
"We will be pledging about $10 billion over approximately a two-year period," Rice told reporters en route to Paris. "That is a strong sign of how committed the United States is not just to the security of Afghan people but to their prosperity and to the functioning of their government."
At the conference, Afghanistan will ask donors to help fund a $50 billion five-year national development plan. In exchange, donors will demand Kabul do more to fight corruption in what is one of the world's poorest states.
"There are concerns about corruption in Afghanistan and they are well-founded," Rice said. "We have to remember that this was a completely broken state, a completely failed state, really, and it's going to take some time to ... build the institutions that can provide law and order."
A U.S. official told Reuters on Tuesday that the U.S. pledge would be roughly $10 billion out of total donor commitments pledges that he expected to be more than $15 billion.
The World Bank will maintain its aid to Afghanistan steady at $1.1 billion over five years but will press Kabul to improve its tax system and fight corruption, a senior official said on Wednesday.
