Strings attached to the aid pledged in Geneva

MONITORING (SW) – Afghanistan received financial pledges worth an estimated $ 12 billion for the next four years at the Afghanistan International Conference – Geneva with many strings attached.

The European Union reconfirmed its long-standing solidarity and partnership with the people of Afghanistan, pledging support of €1.2 billion over the period 2021–2025 in both long-term and emergency assistance at the 2020 Afghanistan Conference “Peace, Prosperity and Self-Reliance”.

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission, Josep Borrell, speaking at the opening session of the conference, said: “With intra-Afghan peace negotiations having started, but terrible violence still causing great suffering for the Afghan people, Afghanistan is at a crossroads. The Afghan people can count on the European Union’s support for a prosperous and peaceful future for their country, but our support relies on democracy, human rights, and social progress being protected.”

He said the significant financial commitment demonstrates that the EU is unwavering in its determination to promote a peaceful, democratic, sovereign and prosperous Afghanistan, deserved and long awaited by its people, and makes clear that EU development assistance is based on clear conditions and principles.

These conditions are laid out in a paper co-authored by the EU and other key international partners of the country, which combined provide 80% of international assistance to Afghanistan.

The EU High Representative/Vice-President Borrell and Commissioner Urpilainen at the Conference reiterated the EU’s support to Afghanistan is conditional upon an inclusive, Afghan-owned, Afghan-led peace process that builds on the political and social achievements of the last 19 years.

He said preserving democratic pluralism, the constitutional order, institutional transparency and accountability, and the rule of law, further promoting human rights and fundamental freedoms, especially for women, children and minorities and including freedom of media, and pursuing sustainable peace, development and prosperity, are essential for Afghanistan’s future.

Many of the principles for EU and international support are reflected in the Joint Political Communiqué and the Afghanistan Partnership Framework, which were adopted at the Conference.

The US pledged over $600 million worth of assistance per year while half of this money will be paid if there was some improvement in peace process with Taliban. $510.80 million worth of pledges came from Germany and $270 million from Canada.

Great Britain said it would provide $227 million a year in civilian and food aid to Afghanistan, and France pledged $104.20 million.

In a video message, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Jawad Zarif called on the world to give priority to the people of Afghanistan before any other consideration. Iran’s foreign minister called the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country an effective step towards peace.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi stated that the country will continue to fulfill its commitments to Afghanistan’s security.

India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar also promised that his country will continue to support Afghanistan, and pay for the construction of the Shahtut Dam” near Kabul.

The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres In his speech expressed his discomfort over the recent violence in particular the deaths of students in the country.

Referring to the role of women and their development in the Afghan society, he added, “although in the recent fights Afghan women have endured violence strictly, a large number of girls were able to educate and some of them have occupied important governmental positions. These are values ​​that need to be preserved and strengthened.”

The $12 billion worth of pledges are less than the $15 billion offered at a similar conference in Brussels in 2016.

ENDS

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