Afghan government approves development blueprint

Afghanistan’s government has approved a new blueprint to build peace in Afghanistan over the next five years and meet the demands of its war-weary people for a better life, officials said today.

The blueprint will be presented to donor at a two-day conference next week in London, which is expected to be attended by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Prime Minister Tony Blair, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah said the government had approved the “Afghanistan Compact,” which will “lay out the framework for continued international engagement with Afghanistan over the next five years.”

The plan follows the completion of the so-called Bonn Agreement, crafted in late 2001, which has seen Afghanistan adopt a new constitution and hold presidential and parliamentary elections.

The top UN envoy in Afghanistan, Jean Arnault, told journalists that the new blueprint was the result of “detailed consultations between the Afghan government and the international community.”