OSLO, June 11 (Reuters) - Norway will provide at least 750 million crowns ($145.2 million) in civilian aid annually to Afghanistan over the next five years, its foreign minister said in a newspaper column on Wednesday. Afghanistan is expected to ask around 65 donor nations to fund a $50 billion, five-year development plan at a conference in Paris on Thursday. Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said in the daily Aftenposten that the international community should support the development plan and that Afghanistan must follow through with carrying it out. "We have decided to raise our civilian aid to 750 million crowns per year, and in Paris tomorrow I will announce on behalf of the government that we aim to give as much for the next five years," he said. In February, Stoere said Norway, which has about 500 soldiers in Afghanistan as part of the NATO mission, would boost civilian aid to Afghanistan by 50 percent this year from around 500 million crowns in 2007. He said Norway would set as a priority the fight against corruption, boosting respect in Afghanistan for human rights and the rule of law and supporting Afghan women's participation in society. He added that the United Nations must play a crucial role in ensuring that elections planned for 2009 and 2010 are carried out properly. (Reporting by John Acher; Editing by Jon Boyle)
Police and security forces gather at the site of a suicide bomb blast in Afghanistan's southern city of Lashkar Gah May 28, 2008. Two suicide attacks took place in Afghanistan on ...
