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Conference raises $20 bln for Afghanistan


    PARIS (Reuters) - A donors' conference in Paris has raised around $20 billion (10 billion pounds) to fund development in Afghanistan, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner announced on Thursday.

    Kouchner originally announced an estimate of $19.95 billionand later said another estimate came to $21.416 billion, beforesaying the total raised was about $20 billion.

    "Let's say around 20 (billion dollars)," he said at the endof the conference.

    (Reporting by Francois Murphy and Arshad Mohammed; Editingby James Mackenzie)