OSCE ready to continue engagement with Afghanistan together with international partners, says Lithuanian Chairmanship at NATO meeting

BRUSSELS, 18 October 2011 – The OSCE’s engagement with Afghanistan has been a priority of the Lithuanian Chairmanship of the Organization this year, and further practical steps should be taken in co-ordination with international and regional actors to promote security in the country, said the Head of the OSCE Chairmanship Task Force Ambassador Rytis Paulauskas at the NATO Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) meeting in Brussels today.

He said that Afghanistan is high on the common agenda of the OSCE and NATO, organizations with a common approach towards the democratic, common and indivisible Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian security community, as highlighted by the visit of the NATO Secretary General to the OSCE Annual Security Review Conference this June.

Paulauskas briefed EAPC members on the role the OSCE has been playing in enhancing security in Afghanistan in co-operation with international partners, including UN, the EU and NATO.

“Security and stability in Afghanistan have a direct impact on the security of the Central Asia and the whole OSCE area,“ he said, stressing that “the OSCE is ready to take its share of the responsibility working with Afghanistan in co-ordination with the UN, NATO, EU and other international and regional actors involved.”

“As the 2011 OSCE Chairmanship, Lithuania has made the OSCE’s engagement with Afghanistan one of its main priorities,” he said. Among practical steps already taken in co-ordination with international partners Paulauskas mentioned promoting cross-border co-operation through joint training courses involving Afghan officers on countering drug trafficking, promoting border security and patrolling; facilitating the participation of Afghanistan’s officials and civil society representatives in OSCE events; as well as electoral assistance to the country provided in 2004-2010. 

Paulauskas said that the upcoming Regional Conference on Afghanistan in Istanbul in November, and the Regional International Afghanistan Conference in Bonn in December would “provide timely occasions to mobilize the international community in support of Afghanistan’s future”. Given that present OSCE projects with Afghanistan will soon be concluded, “the Lithuanian OSCE Chairmanship <…> plans to endorse a second package of the OSCE projects with Afghanistan”, encompassing activities in the economic and environmental, as well as human dimensions, Paulauskas said, adding that further OSCE’s engagement with Afghanistan would be discussed at the OSCE Ministerial Council in Vilnius in December.

Afghanistan has been an OSCE Partner for Co-operation since 2003.