US President George W. Bush has asked the Congress to establish a USD 400 M fund to reward war coalition partners in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The White House announced the fund, dubbed the "solidarity initiative", would reward the allies for the political and economic risks they took in joining the US-led wars in both countries.

The "initiative" was publicly announced after Bush met with the Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski in the Oval Office and told him that almost quarter of the money would go to Poland.

The USD 400 M is part of the USD 80 B supplemental war funding request, to be sent to the Congress next week, that Bush had asked to allocate to support the so-called "war on terror".

The move comes weeks after Iraq voted in its first democratic elections and amid growing public pressure inside some ally states to withdraw troops from the Arab country. The fund is meant to reward US' war allies and tempt them to stay in Iraq to support the US presence.

Besides Poland, Australia, Italy and Denmark were mentioned, while official administration refused to name other states. East European countries, including Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine, have been among the staunchest allies of the US-led multinational campaign in post-Saddam Iraq.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!