United States Increases Support for Afghanistan

“What the Afghan people need to know is that America is committed to Afghanistan's future and will be committed…Our strategic relationship is strong and it is going to be a long-term relationship .” 

-- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

To consolidate gains made in Afghanistan since 2001, and to build on the successes during this period, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced on January 26, 2007 that President Bush would request from Congress an additional $10.6 billion in assistance over the next two years. Secretary Rice is also calling on the international community to redouble its efforts to help the Afghan people rebuild their lives, and enable the Government of Afghanistan to extend sound and accountable governance.

The new assistance package includes:

• $2 bi l l ion for Afghanistan reconstruction, focused on the fo l l owing key areas:
  • Roads, especially at the district level
  • Electricity grids and generating capacity
  • Rural development, irrigation, and agriculture
  • Government centers, training personnel and meeting local needs through Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs)
  • Strengthening the five pillars of the Afghan counter-narcotics strategy: education, interdiction, eradication, law enforcement, and rural development

• $8.6 billion for Afghanistan 's National Security Forces -- the army and police, including:
  • Training and equipping 70,000 soldiers
  • Expanding the Afghan Police to 82,000 and providing them with better training, equipment and support as they deploy throughout the country

Afghanistan's progress since 2001:

• Free and fair election of a president in 2004, and of a parliament in 2005
• An educational system that includes over 600 new schools, and approximately six million students (including two million girls)
• Economy is growing -- $1 billion in private foreign investment in 2006, twice the investment in 2005
• Creation of a multi-ethnic national army that is already producing results in the field
• Creation of a police force
• Over 3,000 kilometers of roads

NATO's role in Afghanistan:

• The NATO-led International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF), operating under a UN mandate and with wide popular support, is providing security throughout all of Afghanistan
• 37 nations – all 26 Allies plus 11 non-NATO partners – are working together in a united effort
• 32,000 soldiers in ISAF, including nearly 13,000 U.S. troops (additional 10,000 U.S. troops in Operation Enduring Freedom)
• 25 PRTs support stability and reconstruction throughout Afghanistan