20. Welcomes the commitment expressed in the Afghanistan Compact "to work towards a stable and prosperous Afghanistan, with good governance and human rights protection for all under the rule of law"; takes the view that in the absence of clear priorities or sequencing the Compact should have defined guidelines on how to achieve these ambitious goals, and stresses, therefore, the need for donors to ensure that their programmes are aligned with such priorities at the central and provincial levels and that the resources allocated are appropriate and effectively disbursed;

29. Emphasises that media freedom is essential in creating a democratic society; is very concerned about the rising number of attacks on journalists, and calls on the Afghan authorities to seriously investigate these violations; welcomes the work of the independent media in Afghanistan, which have re-established a core of information pluralism in the country after decades in which all freedom of expression was absent; considers freedom of the press and freedom of expression to be essential conditions for the country's social development and for relations between Afghanistan and the European Union; expresses its concern about Presiden ...[+++]t Karzai's refusal to sign the draft media law on 15 December 2007 following its approval in the two houses of parliament; calls on the President to clarify the status of the draft media law and recalls the government's commitment in the Afghanistan Compact to develop "independent and pluralistic" media; expresses its concern at the state of freedom of expression, jeopardised by the sentencing of independent journalists and bloggers, and calls on the Afghan Government to undertake to guarantee effective freedom of speech for all its citizens, starting with the defence of Internet freedom;

I. whereas the Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board for Afghanistan meeting on 5-6 February 2008 in Tokyo began to prepare an international conference to review progress in the implementation of the Afghanistan Compact adopted by the above-mentioned London Conference,

The i-ANDS reflects a process of national consultation, underpinning the benchmarks in the Afghanistan Compact and the targets set in Afghanistan's Millennium Development Goals.

work on strategy development, while placing an emphasis on work towards a joint overall strategy of the international community in police reform, taking into account the Afghanistan Compact and the i-ANDS;

The EUPOL Afghanistan mission forms part of the Joint Declaration of 16 November 2005 Committing to a new EU Afghan Partnership and the Afghanistan Compact launched on 31 January 2006, which aims in particular to make Afghanistan a secure, stable, free, prosperous and democratic country.