Brussels, 15/05/2014 (Agence Europe) - Once the international community has defined its “holistic view of post-2014 engagement” in Afghanistan, the Council will decide the role to be played by the EU. This will be the case for European financial support, whether devoted to humanitarian aid programmes or development or intended to finance Afghan police forces. These are the main conclusions reached by the Foreign Affairs Council on Monday 14 May with regard to Afghanistan.
Waiting for commitment from international community. A “holistic” vision for Afghanistan should be developed in coming months on the occasion of three successive meetings of the international community: NATO summit in Chicago on 20 and 21 May, regional cooperation meeting in Kabul on 14 June and meeting on civil and economic development in Tokyo on 8 July. The primary objective is to determine the form that international support will take for the Afghan authorities, at both economic and military levels, after International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF) withdraw in December 2014. The EU27 ministers meeting in Brussels were of the view that it is crucial to ensure at these conferences that there is “correlation between security and long-term development in Afghanistan”.
Financing from LOFTA fund. Although not wishing to make a formal commitment for the post-2014 period, the Council nonetheless made the civil security sector a priority, saying: “Civilian policing will remain the key focus of EU assistance in the security sector”, probably through a new extension of the EUPOL training mission and maintaining the special Law and Order Trust Fund for Afghanistan (LOFTA), which helps to fund the Afghan police force. The European Commission also intends to propose a significant increase in funding from 2013. A senior EU official said that this would increase from €46 million to €75.7 million. Negotiations with the Council are currently taking place. As for the post-2014 period, the Council “intends to address this matter at an early date”, even though a principled agreement has already been agreed.
Support for Afghan police. Although the task of continuing to train the Afghan National Army (ANA) after 2014 will most likely fall on NATO, the EU wished to point out that “planning for the security sector must ensure that the size, structure and missions of the Afghan National Police allow for a refocus on civilian policing and rule of law capabilities” (a decision for a new mission is expected at the Chicago summit). The question of funding is certainly decisive but the Council believes it is more important to assure the “professionalism and quality of the Afghan police”. This is indeed EUPOL Afghanistan's role. Its objective is to provide support for the Afghan authorities in carrying out civilian operations ensuring that order is maintained. This mission has so far helped to train around 3,500 Afghan police officers, but the mission is struggling to achieve its initial target of deploying 400 trainers and so far only 350 have been deployed. As the end of the mandate approaches (31 July 2012), a strategic evaluation of the mission has begun and will be finalised in July, when the EU27 decide on what budget should be provided and present the contribution they intend to make in terms of manpower under the new mandate.
Long-term strategy. On Monday 14 May, the EU27 agreed to continue supporting Afghanistan in the long term, although they advocated a “progressive approach in the form of a roadmap, matching donors' alignment with the Afghan government's national priority programmes with progress on issues such as governance and human rights”. In practical terms, the national and local authorities must ensure that the presidential and legislative elections will comply with democratic standards and that appropriate efforts will be made to ensure establishment of “an independent and active civil society” to safeguard the rights of women and children while making sure that the legal system is independent. Such progress must be “regularly evaluated and reviewed”. The first consultations were begun to define the role that the EU should play beyond 2014 and negotiations kicked off on 14 March, when a preliminary project was sent to Kabul. Its scope is extremely comprehensive, incorporating human rights, trade, the strengthening of administrative capacity, the fight against drug trafficking and migration issues. If everything goes “smoothly”, an agreement could perhaps be found by the end of the year, explained an EU official who, nevertheless, emphasised that “it is the first time in history that Afghanistan has engaged in this kind of complex negotiations”. Such an agreement would frame EU relations with Afghanistan for the 2014-2024 period but would not necessarily establish what exact funding contributions would be made. These contributions would be the subject of additional bilateral agreements. (JK/transl.fl)