International Afghanistan Conference: Bonn 2011

The International Afghanistan Conference in Bonn on 5 December is a critical opportunity for the international community to reinforce its long-term commitment to Afghanistan.

Hosted by the Germans and chaired by the Afghans, the Bonn Conference will bring together around ninety delegations and one thousand participants. We all share a common objective in Afghanistan. This is to ensure that the country never again becomes a safe haven for international terrorism. We also share a common purpose: to build the capacity of the Afghan government and the Afghan national security forces so that Afghans themselves can be responsible for their own security and their own future.

November’s Istanbul Conference established a credible regional process. Bonn will send a clear signal of the international community’s long term engagement and consolidate progress on the political track. It will also be an opportunity to reinvigorate progress on the key development priorities, as agreed at the Kabul Conference last year.

Following on from Bonn, the 2012 Chicago and Tokyo conferences will set out the international community’s firm commitments on security and non security expenditure.

Afghans decide their own future and civil society will have an increasingly important role to play. We welcome the Afghan Civil Society Forum that will take place in Bonn on 2–3 December.