Britain pledges $1.17 billion in Afghan aid

PARIS (Reuters) – Britain will provide about 600 million pounds ($1.17 billion) in reconstruction aid to Afghanistan through 2012/2013, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on Thursday.

“In the period up to 2012/13, the U.K. will be committing about 600 million pounds to the Afghan reconstruction effort,” Miliband told reporters as he arrived at an Afghan donors conference hosted by France.

Miliband said this sum was in addition to aid money that Britain pledged at a 2006 donors conference, which he said would run out in the year 2008/2009.

More than 65 countries will attend the Paris conference, including the United States, which has promised to provide about $10 billion in aid, the largest sum pledged so far.