There must be stricter rules on financial aid to Afghanistan linked to the future government's fight against graft, EU foreign affairs chief Javier Solana said Saturday. "There's no doubt" that stricter conditions should be imposed, Solana said as he arrived for the second and last day of EU foreign ministers' talks in Stockholm.
"There are some issues which are obvious," he said, stressing the when it comes to talking with an Afghan government "that means a government that is not corrupt". Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini echoed the view during the Stockholm talks focused in part on the need to strengthen the rule of law in Afghanistan.
The confidence of the Afghan people must be regained through a "contract" in which whoever become the next president make commitments to the international community, he said in comments published in La Stampa daily. "Up to now we have just given, the time has come for whoever wins (the presidential election) in Kabul to make promises" to work for change, Frattini stressed. An EU Commission discussion document given to the foreign ministers proposed "a set of political commitments" from the Afghan government to the international community.