Afghan aid deal reached

U.S. pledges $296 million for first year

OLYMPIAN NEWS SERVICES

TOKYO -- Major donors pledged a combined $1.5 billion for Afghanistan today at the opening of a two-day reconstruction conference here in an effort to reverse 23 years of war, famine, intrigue and chaos.

Earlier on Sunday, a U.S. helicopter crashed in the rugged mountains of Afghanistan on Sunday, killing two Marines and injuring the other five on board. It was the third fatal crash of a U.S. military aircraft in the campaign.

The CH-53E Super Stallion crashed about 40 miles south of Bagram air base after taking off from the former Soviet base outside the capital, Kabul. It was flying with another helicopter to resupply U.S. forces, military officials said.

Marine spokesman 1st Lt. James Jarvis said there was no initial indication of hostile fire, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the cause of the crash appeared to be a mechanical failure.

The pledges came at an international conference on reconstruction assistance for Afghanistan. Secretary of State Colin Powell announced today that the United States would provide $296 million the first year.

The sum includes a $111 million allocation previously announced by President Bush.

Britain and Germany said they would each provide $282 million over the next five years, and Japan pledged $500 million over two years. Britain also said it would fund 20 percent of a separate European Union pledge of $885 million over five years.

Arriving on Sunday in Tokyo, Afghanistan's interim leader, Hamid Karzai, said he hoped his country would get enough assistance to undo the damage caused by two decades of conflict.

"I'm hoping very much that I will go back to my country and my people with my hands full," he said.

Casualty list

The Pentagon released the names of the two Marines killed in a helicopter crash Sunday in Afghanistan.

- Staff Sgt. Walter F. Cohee III, 26, from Wicomico, Md., a communications navigations systems technician.

- Sgt. Dwight J. Morgan, 24, from Mendocino, Calif., a helicopter mechanic.

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