Global Policy Forum

By Colum Lynch

After weeks of discussion, U.S. and U.N. diplomats acknowledged today that the international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan will not be expanded despite pleas from the country's interim government for tens of thousands of additional troops to provide security in provincial cities.

The decision to abandon negotiations on expanding the force reflected the strong resistance from the Bush administration to the idea, particularly from the Pentagon. It represented a major setback for U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and Afghanistan's interim prime minister, Hamid Karzai, who appealed to the Security Council in January to expand the force beyond Kabul, the Afghan capital.

"The fact is that nobody wishes to commit their troops in this kind of role outside Kabul," a senior U.N. official said today. "There is consensus on extending the force in time but not on expanding it in space."

The decision comes despite signs of mounting lawlessness and violence in much of Afghanistan and continued concerns over the inability of the Karzai government to extend its control much beyond Kabul. Senior U.S. intelligence officials warned yesterday of the growing danger posed to U.S. forces in Afghanistan by pockets of Taliban and al Qaeda fighters, and expressed concern over Karzai's inability to expand his authority.

The 4,500-member International Security and Assistance Force, which is comprised of soldiers from 17 countries, is currently under British command, but the British government is hoping to relinquish its leadership position to Turkey in the coming weeks. U.S. troops are not taking part in the force, but there are 36 American liaison officers assigned to it.

In Ankara today, Vice President Cheney told Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit that the Bush administration would press Congress to provide $228 million to help Turkey assume command of the force when Britain steps down.

U.S., British and Turkish military officials are meeting in Ankara this week to finalize the details of the shift to Turkish control. Diplomats said they will support an extension of the force's mandate for an additional six months, but have decided not to back an expansion of the size of the force for the foreseeable future.

The decision ends an internal battle in the Bush administration over whether to enlarge the force. The State Department has argued in favor of a force of up to 25,000 troops, and last month the White House appeared poised to endorse an increase that would double its size to about 9,000 troops.

But Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who had opposed enlarging the mission, told reporters Friday that there was little hope that the force could deploy outside Kabul. Rumsfeld challenged security assessments by the United Nations and the Afghan government, saying that no "serious security problem" exists in Afghanistan.

The Bush administration, starting with the president, has said for some time that the United States would not join the Afghan force. Rather, the administration said it would use U.S. forces to pursue al Qaeda and Taliban fighters and train a national Afghan army.

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