The London Afghanistan Conference - 28 January 2010
The London Afghanistan Conference took place on 28 January and was co-hosted by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, President Karzai and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and co-chaired by UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband, his outgoing Afghan counterpart Rangin Spanta, and UN Special Representative to Afghanistan, Kai Eide.
The purpose of the conference was to deliver and coordinate support to enable President Karzai to meet the ambitions he set out in his inauguration speech. The conference aimed to move the international effort forward in three key areas - security, governance and development, and regional support.
The international community came together to fully align military and civilian resources behind an Afghan-led political strategy.
See the communique, outcomes and speeches and transcripts from the event
Watch conference footage
To find out more, visit the UK government's Afghanistan website
DFID in Afghanistan
Afghanistan, along with Pakistan, is the UK’s current foreign policy priority. Situated at the crossroads of the Middle East, China and central and southern Asia, Afghanistan was once the prosperous hub of one of the world’s most important trade routes.
Today, following 30 years of conflict, it is one of the poorest countries in the world.
Half of Afghanistan’s 25 million people live below the international poverty line and 40% do not have enough to eat.
The country’s economy is dependent on illegal opium cultivation, providing around 90% of the world’s heroin. There is also insecurity across most of the country and a widespread fear of corruption.
DFID is committed to helping the Afghan government to become an effective and accountable state, increasingly able to handle its security and deliver basic services to its people.
We are providing £510 million over the next four years to support four priorities of the Afghanistan National Development Strategy:
- Make government more effective.
- Create jobs and encourage economic growth.
- Promote stability and development in Helmand.
- Provide alternatives to poppy growing.
The best way to achieve these goals is by supporting the Afghans to help themselves.
This is why DFID has committed to chanelling at least 50% of its funding though Afghan government systems.
Additional money has been spent on helping the Afghan government to deliver the second democratic election in Afghanistan in 40 years.
The efforts of the Afghan government, supported by the international donor community in close cooperation with the military, have led to tangible progress.
Among successes, DFID has contributed to the provision of basic healthcare to 82% of the Afghan population, meaning the number of children living beyond their first birthday has risen by more than 40,000.