The EU and the US are moving swiftly to increase civilian support for the development of Afghanistan and Pakistan, following US President Barack Obama’s decision, on 1 December, to send more troops to Afghanistan.

Richard Holbrooke, the US’s special representative to the two countries, spent yesterday afternoon (2 December) in meetings in Brussels with counterparts from the Council of Ministers, the European Commission and 15 other countries, including non-EU allies, to talk about civilian strategy. The talks placed particular emphasis on co-ordination and on agriculture, an area singled out by Obama as a “focus” for US aid.

Holbrooke said the re-election of Hamid Karzai as Afghanistan’s president and a decision on troop levels in Afghanistan had removed several constraints to implementation of non-military aspects of the strategy. He urged EU countries to pay more attention to Pakistan, the “most complicated part of our strategy”.

Additional troops

Tomorrow (4 December), NATO foreign ministers are to meet in Brussels when the question of commitments of additional troops to Afghanistan will be a central subject.

Catherine Ashton, the EU’s new foreign policy chief, will meet US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the sidelines of the meeting.

Obama said the US would despatch an additional 30,000 troops early next year. Yesterday, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the secretary-general of NATO, said that other NATO members would send 5,000 extra troops, and “probably a few thousand on top of that”.

The UK has pledged to increase its 9,500-strong force by 500. However, France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy and Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel have already indicated that they will make no decisions before a conference on Afghanistan in London on 28 January. Moreover, Canada and the Netherlands are due to withdraw troops.

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