International donors pledge $15.2B in aid for Afghanistan
The international community pledged 15.2 billion dollars for Afghanistan’s development on Tuesday for the coming four years, Voice of America writes.
The pledge, at comes at a time when the United States military is conducting airstrikes to support Afghan forces fighting the Taliban.
According to the source, the pledge, at a donors’ conference in Brussels, comes just over 15 years after U.S.-led troops invaded Afghanistan in a war against terrorism launched in response to the al-Qaida 9/11 attacks against the United States.
Speaking at the conference, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani says the money is an investment in Afghanistan’s future.
“Today it’s the promise to the people, to the poor, to the youth, to the women, to the excluded. That they will have a lease on life and will be citizens of a state which they will enjoy living in,” Ghani said.
According to estimates, the Afghan government is capable of covering only 20 percent of its budget, and Ghani noted that 39 percent of the Afghan population lives on less than $1.35 a day.