In what was an extraordinarily violent day, even by Afghan standards, separate incidents on Sunday killed seven Western troops, including six Americans who died in a single blast, along with five Afghan police officers and at least 18 civilians, Western and Afghan officials said.
The six Americans died in an explosion in eastern Afghanistan, where fighting has been on the increase. The NATO force confirmed the deaths late Sunday without disclosing the nationality of those killed, but a U.S. official said they were Americans. No other details were disclosed.
Two other Western troops were killed over the weekend in southern Afghanistan, the military announced: one in an insurgent attack Sunday and another in a bombing Saturday.
The 18 civilians died in three separate explosions in a small district: Arghistan, in Kandahar Province, close to the Pakistani border. At least five of the dead were women, according to provincial spokesman Ahmad Javed Faisal.
NATIONS PLEDGE BILLIONS TO AFGHANISTAN
Donor nations meeting at a conference in Tokyo on aid to Afghanistan pledged $16 billion over the next four years for civilian projects from roads to schools to strengthening rule of law in exchange for pledges from the Afghan government to combat corruption and to embrace good governance.
The promised funds amount to $4 billion a year, roughly equivalent to Afghanistan's gross domestic product and slightly more than the $3.9 billion annually the World Bank said Afghanistan needs to keep its economy from collapsing once U.S. and NATO forces withdraw.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who arrived in Tokyo after a stop in Kabul, told the conference that the Obama administration would request from Congress assistance through 2017 that is "at or near" the levels the United States has provided over the past decade, which has ranged from $1 billion to $4 billion annually.
In her remarks at the 70-nation gathering, Clinton spoke of the necessity of good governance and transparency.
