$10 billion earmarked for Afghan asistance

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the Bush administration wants to spend about $10 billion for development and related aid to Afghanistan over two years.

That figure -- roughly on par with recent U.S. donations -- is sure to be the single-largest pledge at an international fundraising conference in Paris today. The money is a mix of what Congress has already approved and what the administration is still seeking.

Afghan leaders hope to raise $15 billion to $20 billion in immediate help for their poor, war-scarred nation.

Airstrikes targeting two insurgent leaders in eastern Afghanistan killed 31 people early Wednesday, including several civilians, officials said. Most of those killed were militants, said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary. But Khalid Farooqi, a lawmaker from Paktika, said at least nine civilians died.

A bomb planted near a bridge in northern Baghdad killed five people on passing minibuses during rush hour Wednesday, Iraqi police said. A woman and a 7-year-old boy were among the dead in the mostly Shiite Hurriyah neighborhood.

Afghan counternarcotics officials uncovered 260 tons of hashish in what one DEA official said appears to be the world's biggest drug bust. The hashish, found in the southern Kandahar Province, was worth more than $400 million, a NATO official said. The drugs were burned on site.