EU report warns of 'lack of progress' in Afghanistan

(LONDON) - Political reform and corruption-free government are almost non-existent in some areas of Afghanistan despite years of US and European assistance, an EU report cited by the Financial Times said Monday.

"The situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating," the EU report said, according to the London-based newspaper on its website.

"We are not only faced with a critical security situation. Progress on political reform, governance and state-building is too slow, and in some parts of the country almost non-existent."

The report was prepared for a two-day meeting of EU foreign ministers that started Monday in Luxembourg.

The European Union is expected to announce extra resources Tuesday for Afghanistan and a commitment to target corruption and strengthen government.

EU civilian aid for Afghanistan currently amounts to almost one billion euros (1.5 billion dollars, 912 million pounds) a year.

Afghanistan's August elections were tainted by fraud, and presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah demanded on Monday the firing of Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission chief ahead of next month's run-off poll.

"The new strategy recognises the centrality of the political task in Afghanistan," said Carl Bildt, the foreign minister of Sweden, which holds the EU's rotating presidency.

"If we don't put in place some sort of functioning state in Afghanistan, some system of governance, then all our other efforts will fail. There is a new recognition of that," Bildt told the Financial Times.