The Canadian aid has been announced in conjunction with an Afghanistan rule-of-law seminar in Rome. A total of USD 360 million has been pledged to raise salaries of justice system personnel, and re-building prisons and other infrastructure. The seminar was spearheaded by Italy, who has 2,000 troops in Afghanistan.
In a previous post, I mentioned that many EU participants in ISAF are particularly concerned with rule-of-law issues in Afghanistan vis-a-vis the U.S. detainee system. The infamous Pol-e-Charki prison has been recently refurbished, but many other prisons in Afghanistan are in far worse condition than Pol-e Charki had been. Having rule-of-law in Afghanistan is essential to the state, but this effort may well bind together many of the ISAF participants as well. That would also be a desirable development.
Photo: US Army Corps of Engineers