International Conference on Afghanistan to be held in London in 2010

"The hottest stories surrounding Eid festivities in Afghanistan’s political circle has been the proposed International Conference on Afghanistan to be held in London in the last week of January next year. The conference, which was proposed by the British Prime Minister, has been welcomed by the Western Leaders including Angelina Merkel of Germany and Barack Obama of the United States of America. A reaction has yet to be shown by the Afghan government. Previously International donor’s conferences have been held in Tokyo and other European capitals for Afghanistan. However, London Conference will be the second of its kind ever held after the removal of Taliban from power in 2001. London conference aims to set ‘benchmarks’ , as announced by the British Prime Minister, for Karzai administration on training security forces and fighting corruption within a tangible time frame. This adds to the increasing pressure from the western capitals on Karzai administration in Afghanistan."