Global Policy Forum

By Barbara Crossette

Rejecting the kind of administrative dominance that the United Nations has exercised in East Timor and Kosovo, the Security Council authorized a new mission in Afghanistan this week that will leave most of the responsibility for rebuilding the country with its own government. On Thursday, the Council created another large operation and another acronym — Unama, for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. It will last for 12 months, with periodic reviews. But there will be limits on the mission's scope.

It is no coincidence that the head of the mission is Lakhdar Brahimi, a former Algerian foreign minister who wrote a strong report two years ago on the future of United Nations peacekeeping and nation building in which he argued against impossibly large and ambitious operations. There was also the recent lesson of East Timor. East Timorese have complained that the total control the United Nations has had over that territory's administration has stunted the development of local leadership in politics and the economy as the territory moves beyond independence from Indonesian rule.

In Afghanistan, however, Mr. Brahimi has been given considerable power by the Council. Its resolution gives him full authority "over the planning and conduct of all United Nations activities in Afghanistan." That is a considerable job, because almost every major agency involved in relief and rehabilitation, as well as narcotics control, will be represented in the country. About $4 billion in international aid has been pledged for Afghanistan, but there are enormous logistical and security problems to overcome before it can be distributed efficiently.

At the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, Arthur C. Helton, the director of peace and conflict studies, said that although the new mission appeared to be in support of an Afghan government "it will make the United Nations more accountable for recovery and rehabilitation in Afghanistan." "Failure can no longer be blamed solely on the budding interim administration," he said.

The Security Council resolution creating the new mission has a warning for the Afghans. It says that international aid will always be available for those in greatest need, but it will be best provided "where local authorities contribute to the maintenance of a secure environment and demonstrate respect for human rights." Few officials with long experience in Afghanistan have confidence that the dominant factions in the interim government will meet those criteria.

United Nations officials have been rebuffed by the United States and France after calling for an expanded international force to police major cities beyond Kabul, the capital.

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