Donors pledge more than $15 billion to Afghanistan

Donors led by the United States yesterday pledged more than $15.54 billion in aid for Afghanistan 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.

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.