Hamid Karzai
Attends conference
An international conference on Afghanistan is set to raise $8bn (€6.5bn) in pledges for the next two years and fund this year's elections, according to the head of the UN Development Programme.
Mark Malloch Brown said that if donors continued to pledge money for reconstruction at current rates, and Afghanistan sustained its present level of development, the aid target set by the government in Kabul of €27.5bn (€22.3bn) over seven years was achievable.
The President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, is heading a delegation at a world development conference in Berlin. Nearly two-and-a-half years after the removal of the Taliban, Afghanistan needs substantial investment to reconstruct its infrastructure.
More than 50 countries are taking part in the conference. Mr Karzai has said support for his country would promote security.
