Ministers to discuss funding for Afghanistan

Support for Afghanistan after 2014 on agenda of ministers’ meeting.

Afghanistan will top the agenda when the European Union’s foreign ministers meet on Monday (14 May), with EU governments seeking to align their positions on long-term commitments ahead of a NATO summit. 

The summit in Chicago on 20-21 May is expected to map out the full handover of responsibility for security to Afghan troops and the withdrawal of foreign troops by 2014. At the EU level, however, discussion will focus on how to fund continued support for Afghanistan after 2014. The conclusions will also feed into later conferences about Afghanistan, on regional security in June (in Kabul) and on development aid in July (in Tokyo).

Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai said in mid-April that he will ask the international community to support Afghanistan’s security efforts to the tune of “at least $2 billion” (€1.5bn) a year after foreign combat troops leave. The US is asking its allies to cover roughly half the eventual international commitment.

A high-ranking national official has said that his government will seek to expand the frame of debate set by the US, so that Afghanistan’s neighbours – including China – are also asked to contribute.

Within the EU, the focus of debate will be on burden-sharing and on ensuring that countries that have not contributed troops also provide funds. Of the 27 EU member states, 18 have troops in Afghanistan.

With the EU’s 2014-20 budget still bring thrashed out, ministers are unlikely on Monday to put specific sums to their commitments. The political transition in France will also be a complication. François Hollande will assume the presidency on Tuesday (15 May), and the outgoing foreign minister, Alain Juppé, may judge it inappropriate to attend the Council.

Much of the rest of the meeting will be spent reviewing the Middle East peace process, developments in Syria and today’s (10 May) elections in Algeria. Discussion about Russia will look ahead to a summit in June in St Petersburg, where Vladimir Putin, president once more since 7 May, will play host. Concerns about Ukraine’s rule of law will also be discussed.

After the foreign affairs council, development ministers will meet to discuss, among other issues, how to co-ordinate member states’ aid to Myanmar, as well as implementation of EU support. The European Commission pledged an extra €150 million in March. The sharpest words in a still-evolving agenda may be prompted by an EU report on how the Union is meeting – or not meeting – its aid targets. A recent report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development released indicated that the EU spent less on aid in 2011 than in 2010.

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