The Spanish Agency for International Cooperation under the Spanish Foreign Ministry will allocate the money for constructing water supply systems, roads, and hospitals in the poorest province of Badghis in northwestern Afghanistan.
A Spanish Foreign Ministry official and four experts of the agency will arrive in the country in early September to oversee the restoration of Afghanistan's civil infrastructure, a plan suggested by Spain.
A total of 125 Spanish peacekeepers are already in the Badghis province, restoring health services, water treatment facilities, and roads.
In total, over 1,000 Spanish servicemen are now in Afghanistan.
Five hundred and forty Spanish peacekeepers participating in Operation Enduring Freedom, under UN and NATO auspices, since 9/11 are now remaining in the country on a permanent basis. Under the UN, an additional 500 peacekeepers, together with 8,000 servicemen from 37 countries, will be deployed to ensure free democratic parliamentary elections scheduled for September 18.
This peacekeepers contingent will be in the Great province (northwestern Afghanistan) for 90 days and then return home. The operation will cost Spain a total of 26 million euros.
