EU ministers’ Afghanistan warning

THE situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating and poses a great challenge to the international community, EU ministers warned yesterday, despite years of international military efforts.

They called on the international community to increase support, especially in building governance and supporting the growth of Afghan police and security services. The issue will be one of the main issues to be discussed with the US during next week’s summit in Washington.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt who chaired yesterday’s meeting said, “While security efforts are critical we can never succeed if we do not manage to build a basic state with basic governance and basic security, but that requires a lot of patience and is not going to happen over night.”