Global Policy Forum

By Todd Pitman

Afghanistan welcomed the impending NATO takeover of the 5,000-strong multinational peacekeeping force Sunday and urged that it be expanded beyond Kabul. NATO is taking over command of the International Security Assistance Force in large part to end the arduous task of searching for a new "lead nation" every six months to run it. Germany and the Netherlands have jointly led the force for the last six months. A change-of-command ceremony is scheduled for Monday.

"The Afghan Government is confident that ISAF's mission effectiveness will be enhanced by NATO's new role at the helm of the peacekeeping force in Kabul," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Largely because of the peacekeepers' presence, Kabul is now considered generally safe, while the rest of country is ruled by rival warlords whose armed factions often turn their guns on each other. A vast area along the southern and eastern border with Pakistan is home to a low-level guerrilla insurgency being waged by Taliban rebels and their allies.

On Sunday, the United Nations said it had suspended road travel for its workers in a southern Afghanistan region where five policemen were wounded and Afghan aid workers were tied up and beaten. The two separate attacks happened last Tuesday in the Maywand district of Kandahar province, U.N. spokesman David Singh told reporters in Kabul.

President Hamid Karzai's government, along with U.N. special envoy to Afghanistan Lakhdar Brahimi and human rights groups, have repeatedly called for peacekeepers' mandate to be expanded outside the capital, particularly with general elections set for June 2004. So far, however, no nation has been willing to support that endeavor. Outgoing ISAF commander Lt. Gen. Norbert van Heyst said last week it would require at least 10,000 additional soldiers.

"The Afghan government remains convinced that starting serious and meaningful discussions among all stake-holders to consider expanding the U.N.-approved mandate of ISAF beyond Kabul can take place at the earliest opportune time," the Foreign Ministry said. NATO spokesman Mark Laity told reporters in Kabul it was premature to talk about expanding the operation.

"I can't imagine that we'd would want to debate this issue until we are very confident that we are settled in, that we are fulfilling the existing mandate as well as possible," Laity said. "But of course it (a discussion on expansion) is inevitable at some stage. If people keep raising the question, then we'll have to have an answer."

Laity said a single, open-ended command by NATO would bring more continuity to the mission. Most commanders have been rotated out after six-month tours-of-duty after learning Afghanistan's complexities. The 30-nation force was created in December 2001 to bolster security in Kabul in the wake of the U.S.-led war that toppled the Taliban, which had granted haven to Osama bin Laden's terrorist network. Laity said the force will continue operating exactly as before, with the "same mission, same mandate, same banner."

FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Global Policy Forum distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C íŸ 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.