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The United States and 21 other nations are agreed to spend billions of dollars to reconstruct Afghanistan after the war, as officials said they were prepared to pay for "high-impact" farm, road and school-building projects to try to win over the Afghan people as soon as the Taliban are defeated. The World Bank calculated in a recent study that just clearing known minefields in the country would cost $500 million.

Concern is growing for the children fleeing the country and arriving alone in neighboring Pakistan. Some have seen their parents killed. Others have been sent away because their families can no longer afford to keep them. Millions of refugees depend on food handouts to survive, but with very little aid getting into Afghanistan neighboring countries risk being swamped. Relief organizations and the United Nations have appealed for urgent help to stave off a catastrophe.

In addition to the global coalition against terrorism, 15 countries met in Berlin to plan the wider relief effort for refugees. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called for the international community to provide $584 million for the projected needs of up to 7.5 million Afghans through the winter into summer next year when farmers may begin surviving on their own efforts.

War Torn Refugees
Witnessed
Unconscionable Horrors in Kunduz

Refugees are streaming out of the besieged city of Kunduz in northern Afghanistan, which has been pounded for days by American B52 bombers.

Refugees who have reached safety told the BBC that hardliner Taliban troops inside the city are not allowing any more civilians to leave. Civilians were "beaten and shot" by Taliban troops. The Taliban loyalists block exits from the city, trapping tens of thousands in the war ravaged city. Still, many manage to slip out by cover of night. No one seems to know how many civilians remain in Kunduz. The city once had a population of 100,000.

By rough estimates there are more than 10,000 foreign fighters in Kunduz. At least two-fifths are Pakistani, at least one-fifth are Uzbek, one-tenth are Arab and the rest are Chechen, Chinese or Burmese. About 1,000 belong to the al Qaida network of terrorists.

When some Taliban recruits, Chechen militants, brought an injured fighter to a Kunduz hospital eight days ago, a dentist who greeted them, Mohammed Pagdel, smiled. According to a friend of the dentist, one of the fighters was upset by the greeting. Seconds later, the dentist lay dead on the hospital floor.

The Arab fighters are known for blaring Islamic teachings from the cassette players of their four-wheel-drive vehicles. There were reports that three Arabs pretended to surrender to Alliance troops. When Alliance soldiers approached them to take their weapons, the Arabs detonated the bombs strapped to their bodies, killing themselves and five Alliance soldiers.

All of the foreign fighters reportedly have lots of cash, dispatching servants and cooks to shop for them at the market, the refugees recalled. The Taliban fighters have issued warnings at mosques that if they run short of money, they will demand it from the local population. The foreigners turned on many Afghan fighters in the Taliban ranks, killing dozens of men whose loyalties they question.

Refugees say that the heaviest bombing strikes have been aimed at a hilltop where the Taliban stored fuel, tanks and other military equipment. Two U.S. strikes reportedly went astray, according to several refugees. One hit a house not far from the hilltop, injuring several people. Another apparently was aimed at antiaircraft guns located near a former girls' school taken over by the Taliban. One refugee said the bomb was dropped after the Taliban fired at the plane. It hit the corner of a house about 30 yards from the artillery and killed three children playing outside.

Every day, families embark on the 50-mile trek across the Taliban's front line to areas controlled by the alliance. They said they made the arduous trip rather than live with the constant fear of a trigger-happy Taliban fighter or an errant bomb, like one that refugees said killed three children.

Hauling yellow plastic jugs of water, bags of flour, lanterns, blankets and copies of the Koran, the refugees are a familiar sight at the end of a bridge that marks the start of alliance territory on the east side of Kunduz. Civilians that do escape are flocking to receive medical treatment after a narrow escape from Kunduz and the cruelty of desperate Taliban fighters there.

Today, many thousands of Afghan refugees are continuing to stream across the border to neighboring Pakistan. The UN says it expects to see many thousand more, especially from the south and east of Afghanistan. The UN refugee agency says that, despite the changes in Afghanistan, few refugees are likely to go home because it is winter and they cannot start farming.