Afghanistan gets $16B in aid, with rules

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KABUL, Afghanistan, July 8 (UPI) -- Some 70 countries Sunday pledged $16 billion in aid to Afghanistan, but with strict anti-corruption conditions, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.

At a Tokyo summit, President Hamid Karzai told diplomats he feared for his country's future stability as the clock winds down for U.S. and NATO presence by next year, The New York Times reported.

(L-R) U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Japan's Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon attend a photo session during the "Tokyo Conference on Afghanistan" in Tokyo, Japan on July 8, 2012. UPI/Keizo Mori

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The United States is the largest international donor at $2.5 billion. Clinton described the 4-year aid package as "more than enough," as long as the Afghan government could show funds weren't being misappropriated.

"That must include fighting corruption, improving governance, strengthening the rule of law, increasing accessibility to economic opportunity for all Afghans, specifically for women," Clinton said.

Clinton and Karzai met in Kabul before flying to Tokyo and Clinton assured the president next year's troop withdrawal wasn't a distancing measure.

"We are not even imagining abandoning Afghanistan; quite the opposite," Clinton said. "We are building a partnership with Afghanistan that will endure far into the future."

Part of the aid agreement is an accountability review of Afghan government spending and policies in Britain in 2014, The Times said.