European Union - Afghanistan: Beyond 2014

Berlin, 4 - 5 October 2012

At the NATO-Summit in Chicago in May 2012, Heads of State of the nations contributing to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan set the deadline for complete withdrawal of all NATO-troops: 31 December 2014. The European Union and its Member States, as well as other nations, has signalled to remain “one of Afghanistan’s most important international partners up to 2014 and beyond”. As basis for the new partnership, negotiations on an EU-Afghanistan Cooperation Agreement on Partnership and Development (CAPD) have commenced in Kabul already in March 2012. The CAPD is supposed to include all sectors of mutual interest to Afghanistan and the EU, most notably security and reconstruction. Yet, what the new partnership will actually consist of remains unclear.

 

At the conference, students were invited to represent one of the Member States of the European Union, the European Commission or the High Representative  to pursue the negotiations on the CAPD. In addition, young Diplomats from Afghanistan participated representing Afghanistan or a EU Member State. Based on the expertise of the Afghan participants, this conference was much more than "just" a simulation.

After two days of intense debate, the EU-Afghanistan Conference adopted a new Cooperation Agreement which was signed in a special ceremony by all participants.