brussels<u+2014>international leaders gathered here wednesday to commit around $3 billion in development aid a year to afghanistan. the development conference coincides with a surge in taliban attacks in afghanistan including an offensive that penetrated the heart of kunduz, the country<u+2019>s fourth largest city. afghan president ashraf ghani and federica mogherini, the european union foreign policy chief, said the attacks were timed to try to overshadow the donor conference. the taliban this week planted their flag in the main square of kunduz and launched a fresh offensive in three other provinces. separately, a u.s. special-operations forces soldier was killed on patrol in the east, where islamic state has established a foothold and is proving difficult to dislodge. jens stoltenberg, the secretary-general of the north atlantic treaty organization, said afghan forces are back in control of kunduz, according to alliance generals. international military forces are present in kunduz in a support role, providing advice to the afghan security forces, mr. stoltenberg said. <u+201c>the afghan forces have regained control over kunduz, and what we have seen is they have been able to repel the attacks,<u+201d> he said. on the ground, residents accused officials of playing down the crisis and say the battle for kunduz is raging for a third day. officials said they remain committed to a peace deal for afghanistan to try to solidify the gains the country has seen since the 2001 invasion and overthrow of the taliban government. u.s. secretary of state john kerry welcomed an agreement announced last month between the afghan government and the militant group headed by notorious warlord gulbuddin hekmatyar. the taliban should look to the deal as a model, mr. kerry said. <u+201c>i think the message from every person here today would be to the taliban: take note,<u+201d> he said at the opening session of the conference. the deal, signed on sept. 22, was seen as largely symbolic, aimed at encouraging the taliban and other militant groups to sign similar agreements. mr. kerry said the u.s. would remain committed to supporting afghanistan no matter who won the elections in november. republican presidential nominee donald trump has said that the u.s. spends too much supporting allies overseas. mr. kerry said other countries<u+2014>including russia, china, india, pakistan and iran<u+2014>had to help afghanistan economically and reach a peace deal with the taliban. taliban officials said international donations haven<u+2019>t helped afghanistan. <u+201c>the money pledged in the name of our country at each conference has either gone to the pockets of foreign contractors or to their partners inside the country, failing completely at bringing any meaningful change into the lives of the ordinary citizens,<u+201d> the taliban said in a statement issued before the conference. <u+2018> the money pledged in the name of our country at each conference has either gone to the pockets of foreign contractors or to their partners inside the country, failing completely at bringing any meaningful change into the lives of the ordinary citizens, <u+2019> the eu and its member states will commit <u+20ac>1.2 billion ($1.34 billion) a year to afghanistan, ms. mogherini said wednesday. the u.s. will contribute about $1 billion annually, a senior state department official said. the pledges secured wednesday are set to last through 2020. the development aid<u+2014>primarily aimed at improving health care, economic opportunity for women, agricultural initiatives and anticorruption efforts<u+2014>is in addition military assistance for the afghan army and police force of up to 352,000 service members. in july, nato allies and partners pledged to continue security funding upward of $4 billion a year through 2020. european officials have said keeping military and development assistance to afghanistan is critical to stabilizing the country and encouraging afghan citizens to remain rather than seek refugee status in europe. the eu reached a deal on migration with afghan authorities on sunday aimed at stepping up returns of migrants who have their asylum claims rejected. hundreds of thousands of migrants from syria, afghanistan and other countries have come to europe in the past few years. though the agreement came right ahead of the development pledges, european officials said aid isn<u+2019>t contingent on any migrant-related agreement. <u+201c>there is no conditionality. there is no link,<u+201d> between aid and migration policy, ms. mogherini told reporters. --jessica donati and felicia schwartz contributed to this article. write to julian e. barnes at julian.barnes@wsj.com and laurence norman at laurence.norman@wsj.com
afghanistan set for $3 billion in development aid amid taliban offensive    - wsj
julian e. barnes laurence norman