US Senate approves war funds bill

The United States Senate has approved additional funding of $162bn (£82bn) for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The bill includes significant extra funding for US war veterans' education and unemployment benefits.

It is a victory for President George W Bush, and does not include timetables for withdrawing US troops from Iraq, something Mr Bush vigorously opposed.

With the new funding, the total US budget for Iraq and Afghanistan now stands at more than $800bn.

The bill allows the Pentagon to pay for US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan until mid-2009.

It also envisages a significant increase in college education benefits for returning soldiers and help for US unemployed and flood victims in the Midwest.

If brings to more than $650bn the amount provided by Congress for the war in Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003.

Some Democrats criticised the bill for not setting deadlines for pulling out US troops from Iraq.

Congress did attach two conditions to the funds - prohibiting the construction of permanent US military bases in Iraq and requiring Baghdad to match any US reconstruction aid.

Anti-drug aid

The US Senate also approved a $1.6bn, three-year package of anti-drug assistance to Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean called the "Merida Initiative".

Conflict between rival drugs gangs and Mexican police has escalated this year.

The violence has left well over 1,000 people dead so far this year.

Under the aid plan, the US funds would be used to help train and equip security forces and strengthen justice systems.

The bill was approved by the House of Representatives on June 10, so the measure now goes to President George Bush to be signed into law.

However, Mexico's President Felipe Calderon and the nation's lawmakers have been deeply opposed to conditions within the bill which link the funding to performance on human rights, arguing that they violate their country's sovereignty.

Other provisions would allow the US to monitor the use of equipment and training by the other nations and look into allegations of abuse by security forces.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the measure was "critical".

"Mexico and the United States have a shared problem and we must have a shared solution," he said.

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