UN, Partners Seek Afghan Funds         11/24 06:15

   

   GENEVA (AP) -- Top officials including the U.N. secretary-general and U.S. 
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo were taking part in a largely virtual pledging 
conference for Afghanistan on Tuesday, the latest effort to drum up aid and 
support for a country where Taliban fighters are making inroads against the 
government.

   The gathering in Geneva, co-hosted by Finland, was expected to draw 
diplomats, civil society advocates and international organizations from over 70 
countries in the first such event in four years.

   "Today is the day to reaffirm our solidarity with the people of 
Afghanistan," said Tatiana Valovaya, the head of the U.N. office in Geneva that 
is co-hosting the conference.

   The pledging conference, overshadowed in part by the COVID-19 pandemic, 
seeks to lay out objectives for the next four years for Afghanistan is expected 
to generate billions for the poor and insurrection-wracked nation.