May 08, 2008

President Hamid Karzai met Thursday with Maxime Verhagen, Foreign Minister of the Netherlands, Defense Minister Jaroslav Baska and Foreign Minister Jan Kubis of Slovakia in the Palace in Kabul. Issues discussed in the meeting included continued commitment of the countries of the visiting officials in the reconstruction and security in Afghanistan.

Dutch foreign Minister, Maxime Verhagen said his country would invest more money in training and strengthening Afghan National Police and said it was important to strengthen the capacity of police forces.

Minister Verhagen hailed the role played by Afghan local authorities in leading the reconstruction and security efforts and called for even stronger cooperation. He applauded the efforts for improving the judiciary and treatment of the prisoners especially those in the NDS detention facilities.

Slovak Ministers of Defense and Foreign Affairs during the meeting reiterated their country’s long-term commitment to the people of Afghanistan in their strife for security and rebuilding their country. Some Slovak soldiers are currently serving in the engineering unit of the NATO- led PRT based in Uruzgan.