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Jolie, Pitt donate $1M to aid refugees

Actor Brad Pitt and actress Angelina Jolie arrive on the red carpet before a screening of the film "Inglourious Basterds" at the 62nd annual Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France on May 20, 2009. (UPI Photo/David Silpa)
Actor Brad Pitt and actress Angelina Jolie arrive on the red carpet before a screening of the film "Inglourious Basterds" at the 62nd annual Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France on May 20, 2009. (UPI Photo/David Silpa) | License Photo

NEW YORK, June 18 (UPI) -- Celebrity couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have donated $1 million through their Jolie-Pitt Foundation to aid refugees in Pakistan, U.N. officials said.

People.com quoted Antonio Guterres, the head of the U.N. Refugees Agency, as expressing his gratitude to the foundation for its help in what he described as "the most challenging humanitarian crisis of the past decade."

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More than 2 million people reportedly are displaced in Pakistan due to fighting in the region.

Jolie discussed the $1 million donation in an interview set to air Thursday night on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360."

"I'm not a political person. But I think it doesn't take much to understand that this is the frontline of us fighting against extremists where all that we hold dear and all that we value is really on the line," Jolie told Cooper. "This fight is a very personal fight for all of us. And these victims of this crisis, these regular people who are mostly agriculturalists that are fleeing are ... we should feel a real connection to them, identify with them.

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"This is a similar enemy that we've been fighting for years. But this moment right now, this situation and keeping it stable is in all of our best interests," Jolie said. "It's unimaginable what could happen if, in fact, the extremists do gain ground. ... So, I think at least what we can be doing is assisting the humanitarian crisis and assisting the people and the desperate families and the children. And I think all countries have a responsibility to do that."

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