Afghanistan Times
Related Articles
AT-KABUL: The European Union announced on Tuesday in Brussels conference to provides $1.1 billion in annual support to Afghanistan until 2020.
Germany’s international broadcaster Deutsche Well reported the European Commission would commit an extra $224 million in a year to strengthen state structure in the “war-ravaged country”.
“The commission in a statement said the funds could be used by the Kabul government to finance their own strategic development priorities,” the report added.
The other countries – including the US, Russia, China and India – are also expected to increase aids to Afghanistan, which is not able to stand on its feet after four decades of conflict, and amid a resurgence of the Taliban.
The United States had earlier said it would expect the upcoming international conference would bring pledges of over $3 billion a year to Afghanistan for development support.
“We expect strong pledges of renewed support to be announced next week, collectively totaling over $3 billion a year in development support through 2020,” the US Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Olson said.
Olson further added that the aid would depend on Afghan progress in implementing reforms including countering corruption.
He said he expects the Afghan government to announce “ambitious” medium-term plans to wean itself of donor support and stimulate economic growth.
