Spain To Open Embassy In Afghanistan By Year's End: Report

MADRID, Aug 1 (AFP) - Spain is to open its first embassy in Afghanistan by the end of the year, Spanish daily ABC on Sunday quoted a high-ranking defence ministry official on a visit to Kabul as saying.
ABC said Leopoldo Stampa, director general of the ministry's institutional relations, made the announcement following talks with Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah.
The defence ministry in Madrid was unavailable for comment on Sunday.
Stampa is in Kabul overseeing the provision of 103 tonnes of humanitarian aid on behalf of Spain's foreign and defence ministries.
The pending opening of an embassy follows last month's announcement by Spain's new Socialist government that it is to increase its military contingent in Afghanistan from a current 475 to between 940 and 1,040 in the run-up to Afghan elections slated for September.
By year's end Madrid intends to reduce the contingent to 540.