Upcoming Afghan Conference Will Help Promote Post-Election Dialogue – Ban
New York, Nov 28 2009 12:10PM The international conference on Afghanistan that will be staged in London early next year
provides "a very timely" opportunity to discuss the country's agenda in the wake of its recent presidential elections,
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today.
Mr. Ban said the London conference -- scheduled to take place on 28 January -- and a further high-level conference, to
be convened in Kabul a few months later -- will help outline the framework so that Afghans can play a greater role in
shaping their own destiny.
"These conferences would thus constitute defining moments in the reconfiguration of the relationship between Afghanistan
and the international community," Mr. Ban said today in a statement issued in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, where
he is attending the Commonwealth heads of government meeting.
The United Nations Secretary-General stressed his support for high-level dialogue and noted that Afghan President Hamid
Karzai, in his inaugural speech earlier this month, also outlined the importance of such discussions in the wake of the
elections.
Mr. Karzai was re-elected to the presidency after his opponent, Abdullah Abdullah, withdrew from the run-off round that
had been slated for 7 November.
In his inaugural speech Mr. Karzai detailed a work programme for the new Government, and pledged to fight corruption and
to bring increased good governance, security and services to the country, where the Taliban and other insurgents
continue to wreak violence.
The London conference is the result of a joint European proposal by the United Kingdom, France and Germany and Mr. Ban
today thanked Gordon Brown, the UK Prime Minister, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Germany's Chancellor Angela
Merkel for their initiative.
ENDS