| Kippreport.com

Afghan resolution tested by its economy, Pakistan, Iran

December 5, 2011 1:08 by Reuters

…progress has been made to set up an effective state in one of the world’s poorest countries.

“We hope that governments attending this meeting fully seize the opportunity to do better than they have to date. Much more needs to be done to put Afghanistan on the road to recovery, stability and sustainable development,” said Samuel Worthington, who heads InterAction, the largest alliance of US-based international aid groups.

TALIBAN DECRIES “FLAMES OF OCCUPATION”
Iran moved nearer centre stage in Bonn after Tehran said it shot down a US spy drone in its airspace and threatened to respond outside its borders to the alleged incursion.

International forces in Kabul said the drone may have been one lost last week while flying over western Afghanistan.
Iranian television quoted a military source as saying Tehran had shot down the drone in eastern Iran.

“The Iranian military’s response to the American spy drone’s violation of our airspace will not be limited to Iran’s borders,” the military source said.

Iran has been accused in the past of providing low-level backing to the Taliban insurgency, and diplomats and analysts have suggested Tehran could ratchet up this support if it wanted to put serious pressure on US forces in Afghanistan.

For its part the Taliban demanded in a Nov. 30 statement an end to what it called foreign occupation of the country.

The conference was “seeking to further ensnare Afghanistan into the flames of occupation and to turn it into a battleground and perpetual nightmare for the neighbouring countries,” it said. (By David Brunnstrom and Hamid Shalizi; Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi, Arshad Mohammed, Sabine Siebold, Myra Macdonald, William Maclean and Missy Ryan; Writing by William Maclean; Editing by Missy Ryan and Tim Pearce)

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Tags: Afghanistan, civil war, Europe, Iran, Kabul, pakistan, Taliban, US