An Afghan Cabinet Minister says the United States has promised $2 million dollars to Afghanistan to fund compensation for the victims of a ‘‘friendly fire’’ accident North of Kandahar, Time magazine reported on Wednesday on its website, time.com. Afghan officials have said 48 civilians died and 117 were wounded in the American Air strike on July 1, including people at a wedding celebration. Afghan Cabinet Minister Mohammed Arif Noorzai told the magazine that in a meeting earlier this week with Afghan officials in Kabul, US officials promised cash to allow the victims to be compensated. Noorzai was quoted as saying that General Dan McNeill, the US Commander of operations in Afghanistan, and US Ambassador Robert Finn assured Afghan President Hamid Karzai that the assistance was forthcoming. Karzai’s spokesman Fazel Akbar said, ‘‘It’s support of the nation.’’ The support consisted of $2 million dollars in cash to be given to Karzai, Time reported. ‘‘There was the promise of cash aid but still we did not receive it,’’ Akbar said. The State Department declined to say whether a cash payment would be involved, but it confirmed some assistance to Afghanistan was planned, the report said. ‘‘We have decided to target some of the reconstruction assistance in that area,’’ spokesman Richard Boucher said. US Embassy officials in Kabul declined to comment, the magazine said. The Pentagon had no immediate comment on the report.
