Pakistan hopes for $10.5b in aid

Pakistan's leaders are hoping for up to US$6 billion ($10.5 billion) in international support today as they try to steer the Islamic world's only nuclear-armed nation through a rising storm of extremist violence and economic woes.

But there are doubts the expected pledges at a donor conference in Japan will do more than keep the country afloat for the next few years. The emergency economic aid is expected from some 25 foreign backers, including the US, China and Saudi Arabia.

Such help is separate from Washington's plans to give Pakistan US$1.5 billion in aid for the next five years, and a US$7.6 billion bailout granted by the International Monetary Fund in November to avert the country's most recent balance-of-payments crisis.