Afghans seek $4.1b a year from NATO summit

AFGHANISTAN: Afghanistan goes to the NATO summit in Chicago on Sunday with a firm demand for $4.1 billion a year for its security forces after Western troops pull out in 2014 -- and insists it is "not charity".

Afghanistan, fearing a new civil war or military advances by hardline Islamist insurgents following the withdrawal, sees the cash as an investment in the West's own security against terrorism.

"This is not charity, Afghanistan is and will be on the frontline of the world's fight against terrorism," Deputy Foreign Minister Jawed Ludin told foreign journalists ahead of the summit.

"We Afghans will be making sacrifices for years to come in what is essentially an international war." After the 9/11 attacks in 2001, the United States led an invasion of Afghanistan to topple the Taliban regime for harbouring Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden -- and NATO still has some 130,000 troops fighting an insurgency. AFP