Allies promise to support Afghanistan as foreign troops withdraw

World Today

The United States, Britain, and other allies promised Thursday not to abandon Afghanistan’s new government, while Afghanistan’s president said “peace is a top priority” as international security missions end and Taliban attacks surge.

At a one-day meeting of envoys from more than 60 countries, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said observers who had predicted doom for Afghanistan as the international military presence wound down were wrong.

“History will not be repeated. We have overcome the past,” Ghani told diplomats at the end of the conference.

Ghani was elected in September in Afghanistan’s first peaceful transition of power, though he has yet to form a stable Cabinet.

He said he was confident Afghanistan would overcome its challenges.

“We hope that we will never need direct combat support (again), because the last thing we want is more blood,” he said. “Peace is a top priority for us.”

British Prime Minister David Cameron assured Afghans that “we are with you every step of the way.”

The 13-year international combat mission in Afghanistan ends Dec. 31, although Ghani has signed security agreements with Washington and NATO permitting a continued international military presence. Some 10,000 American troops will remain by the end of the year.

Insurgents have sought to destabilize Ghani’s government and unnerve international agencies with several high-profile attacks in Kabul.

Afghanistan came to the conference seeking reassurance it won’t be forgotten after most international troops leave. The West, in turn, wants to see a stable government and action to curb the corruption that has long plagued Afghanistan.

Ghani pledged to deliver fundamental reform, saying Afghans strongly backed the unity government he has formed with his former political rival Abdullah.

Economically, he conceded, “we have not done well. But that is the challenge we have inherited.

He signaled that he would fight corruption, telling international firms and donors “we are determined to do business differently.”

Thursday’s conference served as a follow-up to a 2012 meeting in Tokyo, where allies pledged $16 billion to help rebuild and stabilize Afghanistan’s government. But officials in London would not discuss how much of that money Kabul so far has received, even as they acknowledged that, in the short term at least, Afghanistan cannot survive on its domestic revenues alone.

Report compiled with information from The Associated Press.


Michael Kugelman of Wilson Center discusses future of Afghanistan

CCTV America interviewed Michael Kugelman, a senior program associate for South and Southeast Asia at the Wilson Center, about the situation in Afghanistan amid the withdrawal of most foreign troops.