Paris, 23 March 2006: The Chairman of the Assembly’s Defence Committee, Robert Walter (United Kingdom, Federated Group) and the Assembly’s Rapporteur for Afghanistan, Jean-Pierre Kucheida (France, Socialist Group), visited Kabul on 16-18 March where they met Afghan, EU and NATO representatives, including military leaders and personnel. The outcome of the talks will form part of a report on “European forces in Afghanistan: learning lessons” to be submitted to the next plenary session of the WEU Assembly in Paris on 19-21 June 2006.
 

The Assembly delegation called on the NATO High Representative for Civilian Affairs, Hikmet Cetin, and the EU Special Representative in Afghanistan, Francesc Vendrell, and attended briefings by the French, German and Italian and United Kingdom Forces. They also met ISAF VIII Commander Lieutenant General Mauro Del Vecchio.
 

Among the Afghan representatives the delegation met were members of parliament, the Chief of the Afghan National Army General Staff, General Bismullah Khan, and Lieutenant General Fawzi, Deputy Defence Minister.

The WEU parliamentarians declared themselves most impressed by the security contribution provided by European NATO forces in support of the legitimate Afghan government and the civilian population.
 

They thanked the military for their efforts to improve the day-to-day life of Afghans, and children in particular, through a number of civilian projects involving building schools and sinking wells to supply drinking water. They also suggested that the fact that this kind of civilian reconstruction work was being carried out by military personnel needed to be reflected in their training; they needed to be provided with suitable equipment and the necessary financial resources should be made available. Currently, most of these projects were being financed through ad hoc arrangements.