German FM to visit Afghanistan, south Caucasus

German FM to visit Afghanistan, south Caucasus

Agence France Presse
April 16, 2004

BERLIN, April 16 – German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer will hold
talks with Afghan leaders and visit German troops and aid teams during
a visit to Afghanistan next week, his office said Friday.

Fischer, who flies out Monday, will meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai
and Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah as well as UN special envoy
Jean Arnault.

The theme of their talks will be how to turn the promises of donations
and support made at a March 31-April 1 international conference here
into reality on the ground.

At the conference, the international community promised 8.2 billion
dollars for Afghanistan over the next three years, more military
support to stabilise the country and continued backing for Karzai’s
fragile government.

Fischer’s talks will include Afghanistan’s upcoming presidential and
legislative elections and the pace of disarmament.

He will also visit a German-led provincial reconstruction team in
the northern region of Kunduz and German troops in the international
peacekeeping force based in and around the capital Kabul.

Germany has around 2,000 soldiers serving in Afghanistan.

Afterward Fischer will visit Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia for
talks that will take in regional security in the southern Caucasus.

In Azerbaijan he will meet President Ilham Aliyev and new Foreign
Minister Elmar Mamedyarov. In Armenia, he will meet President Robert
Kocharian.

In Georgia, Fischer will meet with President Mikhail Saakashvili
and Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania and open a regional conference of
German ambassadors.