Brussels, 12/01/2006 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday, the EU's Special Representative for Afghanistan, Francisc Vendrell, said the coming period would be decisive for Afghanistan and the EU's credibility. During a trip to Brussels, Vendrell held a press conference to outline progress since the launch of the Bonn Process, describing some of the activities the international conference in London on 31 January and 1 February 2006 is expected to decide to continue with (see EUROPE 9023). He said progress had been made in areas like establishing legitimate institutions following 'credible and generally fair' elections and reconstruction (especially of cities), human rights and the situation of women, but it would be 'foolish' to deny that the situation remained 'fragile'. The International Security Assistance Force is due to be expanded to include southern Afghanistan, and Vendrell expressed concern about EU Member States' countries failure to approve deploying troops to joint NATO peacekeepers in the volatile southern province of Afghanistan.
The London conference should witness continued political (and possibly financial) commitment by the international community to Afghanistan. Vendrell said the essential work that had to be carried out included improving the legal system, the civil service and combatting the growing of drugs (opium). Vendrell said it was important to ensure the government and institutions were not corrupted too much by drug producers, adding that the urgent issues of corruption and drugs were inter-connected. The London conference will also look at security issues, like the current rise in suicide attacks (Vendrell commented that they were rare in the past). He said forces were needed where there is lack of security. The Netherlands' doubts about increasing its peacekeeping mission by sending a force to the Urzugay province are symptomatic of Member States' reluctance to send troops to volatile areas. Vendrell said the sending of Dutch troops to the southern regions of Afghanistan was highly desirable and the area was not necessarily dangerous for armed forces. He said if the Dutch refused to send troops, it would impact on all the EU and he was concerned that no country had volunteered to take over. Such a refusal, said Vendrell, would be a 'heavy blow' to the EU's prestige in Afghanistan and a setback for EU 'credibility' because while Afghans appreciate the 'selfless' work of the EU in their country, they criticise it at times for being too passive.