The funding will go to healthcare, reform of Afghanistan's justice sector, and rural development, including alternatives to opium poppy production.
Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta, who attended a meeting in Berlin with EU officials, insisted on the "need to stabilize the situation before terrorist groups can reform."
(AFP)
Opium In Afghanistan
OPIUM FARMING ON THE RISE Despite a nationwide program by the Afghan government to eradicate opium-poppy fields and offer farmers alternative crops, international experts say that the 2006 opium crop will be as much as 40 percent larger than the previous year's. Afghanistan is the largest producer of opium in the world, and the source of as much as 90 percent of Europe's heroin.(more)
RELATED ARTICLES
Narcotics Supply Reduced, But Afghanistan Still Suffering
Saffron Could Help Wean Farmers Off Opium Poppies
Poppy-Eradication Drive Launched In Western Province
Insurgency Gains Ground As Poppy-Eradication Efforts Struggle
UN Drug Agency Promotes 'Alternative Development' For Curbing Poppy Cultivation