The EU’s foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, arrived in Kabul yesterday for a day-long visit he said was aimed at finding ways to improve international efforts to help the struggling nation. Solana, last in Afghanistan in 2004, was due to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai as well as lawmakers, the commander of a NATO-led military force, and new UN envoy Kai Eide, his office said.
The diplomat told the Daily Outlook Afghanistan newspaper he was visiting at a “particularly important time of renewed commitment by the international community” to the country at a NATO summit this month and ahead of a Paris meeting of Afghan donors in June.
That commitment was also reflected in the appointment of Eide, he said. The Norwegian arrived last month with a mandate to sharpen the multibillion-dollar international effort that is often criticized as disjointed and wasteful.
“This is the moment to reflect on what we, the international community, can do, working in conjunction with our Afghan partners, to enhance our efforts,” Solana told the paper in comments published yesterday.
“It is important that Afghan solutions are found to Afghan problems,” he said.
The diplomat’s spokeswoman, Cristina Gallach, told reporters in Brussels ahead of the visit that Solana’s trip would be focused on the June 12 Paris conference of Afghanistan’s donors.
Solana told the Kabul-based newspaper that he would tour the headquarters of a European police training and mentoring team during his visit.
The boosted European mission of 230 people is setting up across the country to train Afghanistan’s weak police force, which is on the frontline of an insurgency led by Taliban Islamic extremists.
Solana, who is due to travel on to Pakistan, which is also facing extremist violence, stressed in his published comments that the solution to Afghanistan’s problems involved more than a military effort.
“The approach must be global and joined up, encompassing the rule of law, development, reconstruction, economic growth, rural development and education,” he said.
“It is very important that the efforts should be led by Afghans,” he said, reflecting growing demands by Karzai and his government for more ownership of the work here.
In Pakistan today, Solana will be one of the most senior EU officials to meet the country’s new leaders following the Feb. 18 polls.
“We want to have solid relations with this new government, at the moment when it is necessary to consolidate the democratic process and the line of reform,” she said.
Solana’s trip, to include talks with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and new Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, would also focus on the relationship between Pakistan and India and their dispute over Kashmir, she said.
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