International Conference on Afghanistan, The Hague (2009)

The conference in The Hague was attended by delegations from 73 countries and chaired by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and as co-chairs special UN emissary Kai Eide and the Afghan foreign minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta.

Dutch foreign minister Maxime Verhagen stated that the conference in The Hague was an opportunity to restate and intensify the engagement of the international community in Afghanistan.

Also emphasized was "promoting good governance", the acceleration of economic growth and development, improving security and the widening of regional cooperation, in which the neighbouring country of Pakistan was explicitly discussed.

Minister Verhagen spoke of "Afghanisation", the transfer of security tasks to the Afghan army and police.

The conference showed a consensus between all parties to strengthen the Afghan Army, police and other security services.

The Afghan president Hamid Karzai acknowledged that Afghanistan suffered from corruption and poor governance and promised to change that.

Afghanistan, Albania, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Greece, Hungary Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Iran, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Kuwait, Latvia, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malaysia, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan*, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Sweden, Switzerland.