London - Britain has offered to host part of an international conference on the future of Afghanistan, a government spokesman said Wednesday. It is envisaged that the United Nations-led summit, announced by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a meeting in Berlin Sunday, would take place in two phases before the end of the year.
Brown's spokesman said it was hoped the first phase could be held in the Afghan capital Kabul, depending on security considerations, with the second phase to be held in an "international city."
A joint letter from Brown, Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been sent to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to advance plans for the conference.
In it, the leaders said the summit should set "new prospects and goals" for governance, rule of law and human rights in Afghanistan, as well as security and social and economic development.
"We should agree on new benchmarks and timelines in order to formulate a framework for our transition phase in Afghanistan, i.e. to set our expectations of ownership and the clear view to hand over responsibility step-by-step to the Afghans, wherever possible," said the letter.
Brown's spokesman said the agenda for the conference, likely to be at foreign ministers' level, was still in the planning stages.
