EU offers to act as guarantor in Afghan peace process

By Serife Cetin

GENEVA

EU is prepared to act as a guarantor of the Afghan peace process, the EU’s foreign policy chief said on Wednesday at a two-day ministerial conference in Geneva.

Speaking at the Geneva Conference on Afghanistan co-hosted by the Afghan government and the United Nations, Federica Mogherini underlined that the time had come for "concrete" peace talks to commence in the war-torn country.

"As the European Union, we are here to offer our concrete contribution, with all our instruments, to accompany a meaningful peace process and a peace deal," Mogherini said during the conference which hosted 70 countries.

She highlighted that the amount pledged by the bloc for Afghanistan had reached €13.6 billion, adding that the country was at a "critical moment in its history".