Updated on
Summary
A huge European Union aid package to Afghanistan has been postponed until after an international conference this month, to ensure the funds are matched to needs, the EU's envoy said Tuesday. A decision on releasing the aid, worth 200 million euros (252 million dollars) a year for the next three years, would be made in September, said Vygaudas Usackas. The EU deliberately postponed the three-year aid package from May until September to see what the Afghan priorities are and how our programme fits into those priorities, he said. Afghanistan is set to host a major international conference on July 20, at which its major Western partners will expect to hear what progress has been made on a wide range of issues, and what plans there are for the future. It follows the London conference last December, at which Afghanistan's Western partners pledged billions of dollars in return for promises from President Hamid Karzai to clean up corruption and introduce good governance. Diplomats have said Afghanistan's Western partners will be looking for specific signs of progress on a range of issues when they converge on the Afghan capital next week. Afghan officials are expected to present programmes on security, economic and social development, governance, law and order and justice, peace and reconciliation, aid effectiveness, and regional and global cooperation. He said that extending the aid to Afghanistan would be conditional on memorandum signed between the parties to ensure there are checks and balances. The European Union's aid programmes in Afghanistan were predominantly in rural development and agriculture, governance and rule of law, health, and regional co-operation, he said. The aid suspension -- and the demand for accountability -- comes after billions of dollars in US aid to Afghanistan was blocked amid allegations that billions in donor funds had been transferred out of the country.
