18 September 2002
U.S. Looking for ISAF Leader to Succeed Turkey
(Boucher says U.S. not opposed to expansion of ISAF mission beyond
Kabul) (950)
State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher said the United States is
placing a high priority on the search for the right candidate to
replace Turkey in December 2002 as the commander of the International
Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.
Speaking at the September 18 State Department briefing in Washington,
Boucher praised both Turkey and the United Kingdom, who had previously
led the force, as having done "a superb job of maintaining the stable
and secure environment that has largely prevailed in Kabul."
Boucher said the United States has not opposed the expansion of ISAF's
mission beyond Kabul, but added that U.S. forces elsewhere in the
country were actively working to resolve disputes between armed Afghan
leaders. "Thus far, this has been the most effective tool in achieving
some measure of stability between those forces," he said.
For the protection of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Boucher
acknowledged that the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service
is currently overseeing those efforts, and may require the use of
contractors to supplement specialized areas of their work "because
this is such a unique and unusual situation."
The U.S. security protection is transitional, said Boucher, and will
operate "a properly-trained [Afghan] protection detail for the
President is brought on board."
Following is an excerpt from the September 18 State Department
briefing containing comments on Afghanistan:
(begin excerpt)
QUESTION: I would like to take a detour to Afghanistan very briefly,
if I may. I don't know if you've seen the comments from Mr. Lantos
about two aspects of security in Afghanistan; one of them being that
President Karzai's security is going to be handled primarily by a
private company, DynCorps, I understand? He's concerned about that.
And also, this report which doesn't -- a State Department report which
doesn't seem to back up the suggestion of recent weeks that ISAF
should be expanded beyond Kabul. I have two questions about the
protection of Karzai and exactly what the administration's position is
on whether ISAF should be expanded.
MR. BOUCHER: Okay, let me deal with both those issues. The Diplomatic
Security Service is in the process of working with the Department of
Defense on the transition for the protection of Afghan President,
Hamid Karzai. At present, we do have agents on the ground in
Afghanistan overseeing what we will need to do. Diplomatic Security
Service is a civilian law enforcement and security service. It
operates in an environment where the rule of law governs.
That is not necessarily the situation in Afghanistan, so we may need
to bring on necessary specialists in order to do the job properly; and
that would require the use of contractors. And even that, the plan is
for our people, Diplomatic Security Service and what other contractors
they use in addition, to protect President Karzai only until a
properly-trained Afghanistan protection detail for the President is
brought on board. So there various aspects to this job, some of which
our agents are very good at and trained to do, and there are other
specialized parts of this that are more like almost military
activities for which we might use some contractors.
There are also physical security upgrades that need to be done -- the
alarms, barriers, access control procedures, things like that -- and
then finally the training of a local force that involves recruiting
and training, although that job, that's probably something we'll do
with our Anti-Terrorism Assistance Office in the Diplomatic Security
Service.
So there's a number of different tasks. Some of them are things that
our Diplomatic Security agents are used to doing, know how to do very
well and do an excellent job of, and then there's some other tasks
that we may have to use contractors and specialists to help out
because this is such a unique and unusual situation.
As far as the situation on the International Security Assistance
Force, really the policy remains the same. There was a report to
Congress required under the supplemental appropriations bill. It
addressed -- that report addressed, as the law required, broad US
security concerns and strategy for Afghanistan. Since it was a report
to Congress, we think it's up to the Congress to decide whether to
release it.
But we've spoken before about the policy, and I will again. We have
not opposed the expansion of the International Security Assistance
Force in Afghanistan. Under the leadership of Turkey and earlier the
United Kingdom, the force has done a superb job of maintaining the
stable and secure environment that has largely prevailed in Kabul.
Many of the security problems faced by Afghanistan are in the
countryside, not in the cities, and that's another practical
consideration in any expansion of the force. We have US forces in the
field working to resolve disputes between and among various armed
Afghan leaders. Thus far, this has been the most effective tool in
achieving some measure of stability between those forces.
Not long ago, Ambassador David Johnson, our Coordinator for
Afghanistan, said it this way. He said, "This does not preclude an
expansion of the International Security Assistance Force in some
targeted form, nor does it preclude other creative ideas outside Kabul
that might help achieve an ISAF-type effect."
So we'll continue to consider how best to address the ongoing security
concerns in Afghanistan. I would note that our most important priority
now is to work with the international partners to find the right
candidate to extend the effectiveness of the force beyond the December
end of the Turkish leadership mandate. So that remains the top
priority now.
QUESTION: Do you have any thoughts on that, who you'd like to see?
MR. BOUCHER: No, not publicly. Yes, we do have thoughts. No, I'm not
in a position to share.
(end excerpt)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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