Afghanistan secures continuous assistance from Finland

Hamid Karzai, Saili Niinistö and Jyrki Katainen.(Image: Heikki Saukkomaa / Lehtikuva)

An aid agreement was signed between Afghanistan and Finland on Monday, in an effort to provide continuous help for the war-torn Asian country after the withdrawal of international peacekeeping forces.

During the one-day working visit to Finland, Afghan President Hamid Karzai met his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto and the Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen.

The visit was Karzai's first to Finland.

Karzai and Katainen signed a partnership agreement, which covers the Finnish grants to Afghanistan and other forms of cooperation between the two countries.

Meanwhile, Niinisto pledged that Finland will continue to provide support to Afghanistan after the withdrawal of NATO-led International Security Assistance Force due in 2014.

Expressing his gratitude for the favor, Kazai hoped that Finland could offer more help in the fields of mining technology, education and so on.

In the past ten years, Finland has provided various development projects at a total cost of 190 million euros to Afghanistan, said Finnish media.

Although not a NATO member, Finland currently has 145 crisis management soldiers in Afghanistan, participating in NATO-led international peacekeeping operations.

Nation wide debate has been heated here over the fate of the Finnish soldiers after NATO's troops pullout. Some parliamentary members have shown great interest in maintaining the military presence.