Welcome from the Chair

Welcome to the website of the Delegation for relations with Afghanistan (D-AF)

The Delegation for relations with Afghanistan is a standing body of the European Parliament, which I have the privilege of chairing since 26 September 2019 for the second legislative term. The delegation meets regularly in Brussels with various interlocutors to discuss a broad range of issues.

Afghanistan continues to be in a difficult situation with challenges to come at national, regional and global level. On 29 February 2020, the United States and the Taliban signed the Afghanistan-U.S. Joint Statement for Peace in Doha, Qatar which could mark the beginning of a comprehensive peace process. This is definitely a window of opportunity, for Afghanistan and the whole region, to end four decades of death and destruction, which should be seized. Intra-Afghan negotiations are key to the peace process. After the September 2019 elections, the government forming process was in a months-long electoral dispute between the two camps of President Ghani and Dr Abdullah. International pressure urged both sides to form an inclusive government and to agree on 17 May 2020 on a power sharing agreement relevant for the appointment of ministers, cabinet members and regional governors. On 29 May 2020, the Council adopted conclusions reaffirming the EU's political commitment to support the people of Afghanistan on their path towards peace, security, stability, democracy, prosperity and self-reliance. [ Link ]. Unfortunately, COVID-19 has all potential for reversing development and peace efforts in Afghanistan.

Against this background, the Delegation for relations with Afghanistan aims to keep the country high on the agenda. It is convinced that Afghanistan deserves the EU's continuous political and financial support, and this is also in the EU's best interests. In this context, the delegation participated at the Brussels Donors' Conference of 4-5 October 2016 and expressed its support. In return, the EU rightly expects that Afghanistan will deliver results in various policy fields. Although progress has already been achieved, a lot still needs to be done. As a democratically directly elected body, the delegation believes that the European Parliament should accompany and scrutinise the EU's involvement in Afghanistan. When visiting Kabul, it holds an inter-parliamentary meeting (IPM) with the Afghan Wolesi Jirga (Lower House) and many other gatherings with national and international stakeholders. In December 2018, the delegation adopted an IPM joint-statement with Afghan parliamentarians underlining the mutual commitment.

I look forward to continuing this meaningful work with my delegation colleagues.

Petras Auštrevičius
Chair of the Delegation for relations with Afghanistan

Latest news

20-07-2020 - 15:24

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the President of the European Parliament and its political leaders have modified Parliament's calendar of activities. The aim is to enable Parliament to exercise its core functions, while complying with the duty of care for its Members and staff and protecting public health.

Generally missions of Parliament's delegations during the second semester of 2020 have been cancelled or postponed. Select meetings on politically important and urgent topics may be authorized with the possibility of remote participation by Members, visiting speakers and staff.

The calendar section of this page is updated when possible and provide more details of the meetings in the second half.