U.S. to increase Afghan aid by $4B

Militants killed 17 men building a road in the south.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bush administration is hoping to pledge almost $4 billion in additional aid for Afghanistan at an international donors conference to be held in Paris in June, a U.S. official said Tuesday.

France will host the meeting on June 14 and has set a broad goal of raising $12 billion to $15 billion to fund Afghan reconstruction projects through 2014. The United States is looking to contribute a minimum of 25 percent of that total, the official said.

The official, who said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would likely lead the U.S. delegation to the conference, spoke on condition of anonymity because the administration has not yet determined what its pledge will be.

International donors have pledged about $32.7 billion in reconstruction funds for Afghanistan since 2001, of which $21 billion has come from the United States.

In violence Tuesday, militants killed 17 road workers in Afghanistan’s lawless south, part of a spike in violence that left 40 people dead over two days.

Sixteen other construction workers were wounded in the attack in Zabul’s Shinkay district, said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary. Afghan and international security forces responding to the ambush killed seven militants and wounded 12, he said.

Road-building is a key part of Afghan reconstruction and many projects are in remote, insurgency-plagued areas.

Militants have targeted work crews in roadside bomb attacks, ambushes and kidnappings. In January, militants in eastern Nuristan province beheaded four road construction workers.

The 40-nation military alliance in Afghanistan has stepped up efforts to contain the growing insurgency and the U.S. now has some 32,000 troops in the country, the most since the 2001 American-led invasion.

Last year was the deadliest since the invasion, with more than 8,000 people killed, mostly militants, the U.N. says.

In southern Uruzgan province, militants attacked a police convoy Monday, and the ensuing clash left 13 insurgents dead and five wounded, said Bashary.

In the western province of Herat, Taliban militants attacked a checkpoint Monday in Shindand district, killing two police officers and wounding another, said Rauf Ahmadi, spokesman for the western region police.