The international conference on economic assistance to Afghanistan will be held in the UK capital in November, UK Prime Minister David Cameron told a news conference in Kabul on Friday after talks with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai.
The conference will be co-chaired by the UK government head and the Afghan leader, Itar-Tass reported.
Donor countries, first of all the United States and NATO member countries, had previously promised assistance to Afghanistan, including for purposes such as carrying out reforms and fighting corruption in the country.
At their last conference in Tokyo in 2012, they discussed providing almost $16 billion to Kabul by the end of 2015.
The UK prime minister’s talks in Kabul centered, among other things, on the withdrawal of the Western military contingent from Afghanistan by the end of 2014. Kabul and NATO leaders had previously concluded an agreement on the status of the international military contingent in Afghanistan. The agreement was signed after the approval of the bilateral Afghan-American security agreement.
Cameron promised Ghani that Britain will always be a “strong partner and good friend”. He said British armed forces had paid a “very high price” for their involvement in Afghanistan.
Cameron added “together we have made Afghanistan safer, we have made Britain safer.”
Cameron is the first world leader to meet Afghanistan’s new government.
