Priority 4. Enhance border security, with facilitation of bilateral dialogue between Afghan and Pakistani authorities.
Progress in Afghanistan, and particularly in Kandahar, will be inescapably influenced by Afghanistan’s relations with Pakistan, by conditions along their shared border, and more broadly by relationships throughout the region. Pakistani military offensives during the quarter against the Taliban, in the Swat Valley and other regions of Pakistan were bound to affect the security of both Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Canadian Objective for 2011: By 2011, we expect that Afghan institutions, in cooperation with Pakistan, will exercise stronger capacity to manage the border and foster economic development in the border area.
Canadian Signature Project: Rehabilitation of the Dahla Dam While we work on the dam we have to focus on farmers: to provide them with credit, research, plant protection, organizing them in farmers’ groups, invest in some value-added facilities…so that Kandaharis can make more money. Pomegranates and saffron: these are the things that can compete with the poppy because they are very high-value crops. ~ Asif Rahimi, Agriculture Minister of Afghanistan ~ |
This quarter saw more focused international attention to promoting regional cooperation between Afghanistan and its neighbours. A series of meetings, highlighted by a trilateral Washington summit that brought together the presidents of Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United States, reasserted international interest in suppressing terrorism and advancing governance and development in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Led by Canada, G8 foreign ministers in June renewed the G8’s collective commitment to promoting development on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistani border.
Canada led a “border flag” meeting of Afghan and Pakistani military officers on the Kandahar border in May, facilitating discussions of border issues and reinforcing further communications between the two countries on security matters. Among other activities, Canada also continued collaboration with the Afghan and U.S. governments on a planned new border facility in the district of Spin Boldak.
