US plans to bolster Afghan government with big hike in spending

THE United States plans to increase spending significantly in Afghanistan in a show of support for President Hamid Karzai, a US administration official said yesterday.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, on a tour of Iraq and Afghanistan, flew into Kabul to offer public backing for Mr Karzai and to visit American troops and Nato-led peacekeepers.

Mr Rumsfeld visited an 80-member team of US troops stationed at Gardez, in eastern Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan. The troops are fighting anti-American forces and helping with reconstruction projects in the area.