ISAF forces and one more hard year in Afghanistan

KABUL, October 14 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Afghanistan and Russian welcomed Tuesday, October 14, the U.N. Security Council unanimous agreement a day earlier to expand the mandate of the NATO -led international peacekeepers in Afghanistan to the entire country instead of only the capital Kabul and its environs.

"The resolution... adopted with active Russian participation, provides an important impetus toward completion of the Bonn agreement to strengthen Afghan sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and national unity," said the Russian Foreign Ministry in a statement.

For his part, Afghani Foreign Ministry spokesman Omar Samad hailed the U.N. vote and said his government "is pleased with the decision of the Security Council to expand ISAF forces beyond Kabul."

The council unanimously adopted late Monday, October 13, a resolution authorizing the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to deploy, "if resources permit", to the provinces to "improve the security environment" for humanitarian operations.

The resolution also renews for one year the mandate of the ISAF, which was to have expired December 20.

"This decision is also welcomed by the Afghan people...especially at a time when the political and reconstruction process is entering a new stage," Samad said.

"The presence of peacekeepers in areas that are needed will be crucial in assuring the success of this process," he added.

German Ambassador to the U.N. Gunter Pleuger reaffirmed his country’s happiness with the mandate expansion.

The diplomat will lead a one-week Security Council mission to Afghanistan and next-door Pakistan beginning October 31 to assess the rebuilding process.

Pleuger added that once approval was given in the German parliament, his government would send up to 450 more troops to make an "island" of ISAF forces to boost security in part of the north of the country.

"If this is successful, we hope that this could be considered as a pilot project that could perhaps be copied in other areas of Afghanistan," he told reporters.

Changing Stances

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Negroponte said the new "resolution helps pave the way for the increased security in Afghanistan upon which nearly everything else is dependent."

Abandoning initial opposition to expand the ISAF mandate after NATO took over the force in August, Negroponte said Washington would be willing to widen operations.

On October 6, NATO approved in principle an expansion of ISAF beyond Kabul and asked the Security Council to approve it.

The move comes two weeks before the United Nations oversees the beginning of an ambitious disarmament program for the country, aimed at getting weapons out of the hands of around 100,000 militiamen.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, U.N. officials and relief agencies have been urging the peacekeepers' expansion for over a year, citing rampant factional fighting and attacks against the NATO forces.