Afghan Minister of Finance Eklil Hakimi, the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan P. Michael McKinley, and the USAID Mission Director William Hammink signeda Memorandum of Understanding for the New Development Partnership on August 3, 2015 in Kabul.
The New Development Partnership reflects the strategic importance of the U.S.-Afghanistan relationship and recognizes a new era of development cooperation between our governments. This initiative delivers on the commitment made during Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s March visit to Washington during which President Barack Obama pledged to support the Afghan National Unity Government’s efforts to achieve its own ambitious reform agenda.
Afghanistan’s Minister of Finance Hakimi thanked the U.S. for its generous support with the New Development Partnership, under which the U.S. will provide up to $800 million to Afghanistan to maintain and build on the development gains made over the last 13 years.
U.S. Ambassador P. Michael McKinley remarked that the New Development Partnership represents a fundamental transformation in the nature of development cooperation between our two countries. It empowers Afghan solutions to Afghan challenges, by incentivizing and rewarding Afghan successes.
Afghanistan continues to face difficult challenges – recovery from decades of violent conflict, the continuing threat of violent extremism, the need to provide education, health care, and basic infrastructure for millions of men, women, and children. In meeting these challenges Afghanistan will have the continued help of its friend and ally the United States.
