With end of Afghan war in sight, Europe pushes business
By Amie Ferris-Rotman
HERAT, Afghanistan | Mon May 20, 2013 10:39am EDT
(Reuters) - The European Union threw its weight behind developing Afghanistan's small but promising private sector this week, in the hope that business can usher in stability and peace once foreign troops leave by the end of next year.
In the largest ever EU visit outside the capital Kabul in 12 years of war, a 21-country delegation of envoys jetted to the western city of Herat on Sunday, whose flurry of business activity is largely seen as a rare success story in desperately poor, insurgency-plagued Afghanistan.
War and tens of billions of dollars in constant aid have made Afghanistan a ward of the international community, though vast potential mineral resources and pent-up business desire amongst educated youths mean the environment could be changing.
The EU chose Herat for its trip as "we are encouraged by the province's vision, its ability to attract foreign investment", the bloc's representative to Afghanistan, Vygaudas Usackas, told Herat governor Daoud Saba at his summer home overlooking the city, where high-rise apartments glistened in the sun.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/20/us-afghanistan-eu-business-idUSBRE94J0BU20130520
I hope they mop up the blood before opening the banks.