20 January 2010 - The Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board (JCMB) co-chaired by the head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) today endorsed the Afghan Peace and Reintegration Programme of the Government of Afghanistan.

The JCMB endorsement of the Peace and Reintegration Programme comes a week before the London Conference on Afghanistan.

The JCMB is the forum where Afghanistan’s leaders and the international community identify top development priorities and finance them. It is chaired by Minister of Finance Zakhilwal and UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General Kai Eide.

The Peace Programme aims to promote peace through a political approach and to encourage Taliban fighters and leaders, previously siding with armed opposition and extremist groups, to renounce violence and join a constructive process of reintegration. The programme is in line with President Karzai's vision for his second term as outlined in his inauguration speech.

The Board also agreed to increase the number of soldiers in the Afghan National Army up to 171,600 and the number of police officers in the Afghan National Police up to 134,000 by October 2011.

Also endorsed by the 28-member body were the Afghan government’s Integrated Plan for Economic Development, and the programme for “More Effective Afghan Aid.”

During its 13th meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs today, the four-year-old JCMB also took note of the following Afghan government policy and strategy papers: Concept Note on Governance (Rule of Law and Human Rights); Concept Paper on Regional Cooperation; Concept Paper on Security; Concept note on Anti-Corruption; and the progress towards the finalisation of the Afghan National Police Strategy.

The 28-strong JCMB has seven representatives from the Government of Afghanistan; plus 21 representatives from the international community, including international military forces consisting of contingents from a total of 42 nations.

The Afghan Government representatives are the senior economic advisor to the President as JCMB co-chair; the National Security Advisor, and the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Finance, Economy, Education and Justice, as members.

The JCMB was constituted by the Afghanistan Compact – the by-product agreement of the London Conference of 2006 – for a period of five years from April 2006 to March 2011.

By Aurora V. Alambra, UNAMA