New Zealand will contribute $800,000 to the Afghanistan National Solidarity programme to help improve health, education and agricultural livelihoods in Bamyan Province, Foreign Minister Winston Peters announced today.

"Ongoing conflict, political instability, and severe periods of drought have caused extreme poverty in Afghanistan, especially in rural communities in provinces such as Bamyan," Mr Peters said.

“However with the New Zealand Defence Force's Provincial Reconstruction Team having created a secure environment in Bamyan, the government's overseas development agency, NZAID, is now able to support the United Nations and NGOs in getting projects underway that will make a real difference to the welfare of local people.

"New Zealand's support will enable local communities throughout Bamyan province to build or repair irrigation systems and local roads, and to bring electricity to villages."

Mr Peters said the Afghanistan government's National Solidarity Programme, established in 2003, was successfully improving the lives of millions of rural Afghans after years of conflict.