June 18 2003
International aid and rights groups have called for many more peacekeepers to be stationed in Afghanistan.
International aid and rights groups have called on the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation to expand operations in Afghanistan as it prepares to take over command of the peacekeeping force there amid "deteriorating security". In a statement issued through the New York-based International Rescue Committee, the 79 groups urged the United Nations and Nato to expand the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) beyond Kabul, where it is responsible for security under a UN mandate. Nato is due to take command of the peacekeeping force in August.
"This (new) mandate should include the expansion of the International Security Assistance Force to key locations and major transport routes outside Kabul and the active support for a comprehensive programme of disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of all militia forces outside the control of the central government," said the statement. The 4 600-strong Isaf is confined to Kabul while an 11 500-strong US-led coalition is hunting down Taliban and al-Qaeda in the province, but does not provide security.
Many more peacekeepers needed
"Just as a force in Sarajevo alone could not have stabilised Bosnia, a force in Kabul alone cannot stabilise Afghanistan. "If Afghanistan is to have any hope for peace and stabilisation, now is the time to expand international peacekeepers to key cities and transport routes outside Kabul," it said.
According to a study by Care International, Afghanistan has the lowest ratio of peacekeepers to population of any recent post-conflict nation. Kosovo had one peacekeeper to 48 people, East Timor one for every 86, while Afghanistan has just one for every 5 380 people. Afghan President Hamid Karzai and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan have been rebuffed in their repeated calls to expand Isaf to the provinces.
"For the majority of the Afghan people, security is precarious and controlled by regional warlords, drug traffickers or groups with terrorist associations. The situation is getting worse, and there is no comprehensive plan in place to halt the spiral of violence," it said, pointing to regular attacks by Taliban and al-Qaeda remnants or extremists linked to former premier Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
IRC president George Rupp warned that deteriorating security could jeopardise reconstruction and undermine plans for presidential elections next year. "The interim administration of Hamid Karzai needs much more support and resources to bring peace and safety to the Afghan people," he said.
The aid groups also warned that efforts to create an Afghan national army had faltered, with just 4 000 of the 70 000 proposed force trained so far. Training of the new police force also needed to be speeded up.
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