U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke said Saturday that Middle Eastern nations, including Iran, played a key role in gathering aid for Pakistan at the Donors Conference in Tokyo the previous day.
About 50 nations and international groups pledged to give strife-torn Pakistan more than $5 billion over the next two years Friday, with Japan and the U.S. promising to contribute $1 billion each.
But Holbrooke, representing the United States, said that it was the efforts between "coalitions of countries that barely talk to each other in other forums" that brought the numbers up. Iran pitched in $300 million, Holbrooke said.