Senior officials from the United States, the European Union and Afghanistan met on Wednesday on the sidelines of the Heart of Asia Conference being held in Islamabad.
According to a statement issued by the US Embassy in Islamabad, US Deputy Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, Deputy Secretary General of the European External Action Service Helga Schmid and Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani led their respective delegations.
The statement said discussions focused on the preparations for the 2016 Warsaw and Brussels Conferences on Afghanistan and the latest regional security and economic developments.
The US and Afghanistan welcomed the decision taken by the European Union to host the Brussels Conference on Afghanistan on October 4-5, 2016.
Afghanistan, the EU and the U.S. welcomed the high-level regional participation at the Heart of Asia Ministerial, which provides all partners with an opportunity to address common challenges and reach mutually beneficial solutions, the statement added.
The three sides agreed to work together to support preparations for the Brussels Conference, and ensure that the efforts of the Afghan government and the donor community are closely aligned in the spirit of mutual accountability.
They agreed that the Brussels and Warsaw Conferences were important opportunities to support the Afghan government as it advances its reform and governance agenda.
Progress on these Afghan reform commitments is crucial to enabling the donor community to extend extraordinary commitments of security and development assistance to Afghanistan at the Warsaw and Brussels Conferences, respectively.
The delegations agreed on the need for strong Afghan ownership in preparing the two conferences and called on all international partners to pledge robust support to Afghanistan in connection with the conferences.
