The pledges announced by NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rassmussen fall short of the 10,000 additional troops that Pentagon officials hoped for.

VOA: standard.2009.12.05

Jiang says the funds pledged by developed nations so far still fall short of what developing countries expected.

VOA: standard.2009.12.16

And the economy has been hit hard by the fall in the price of diamonds which make up one-third of its gross domestic product.

VOA: standard.2009.10.19

When Hamid Karzai was installed as president by the international community in 2001, he was widely seen, particularly by the United States, as the bright hope of Afghanistan's future after the fall of the Taliban.

VOA: standard.2009.08.03

The overseas trip is the first by Secretary of State since she fractured her elbow in a fall last month, and it includes an ambitious agenda in India, where she aims to solidify a strategic partnership begun with the 2005 U.S.-India nuclear cooperation accord.

VOA: standard.2009.07.15