14 October 2003
NATO Peacekeepers Authorized by U.N. to Move Beyond Kabul
Negroponte says Afghans deserve the freedoms international assistance can bring
By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent
United Nations -- The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously October 13 to expand the size and mandate of the international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan.
Responding to requests from the Afghan Transitional Authority and information from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which commands and staffs the force, the council adjusted the mandate of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to allow the force to move into other areas of the country to help maintain security. ISAF already provides security in Kabul and its environs.
The resolution authorized ISAF's expansion "to support the Afghan Transitional Authority and its successors in the maintenance of security in areas of Afghanistan outside of Kabul and its environs, so that the Afghan Authorities as well as the personnel of the United Nations and other international civilian personnel engaged, in particular, in reconstruction and humanitarian efforts, can operate in a secure environment and to provide security assistance for the performance of other tasks in support of the Bonn Agreement."
U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said that "since its inception, just after the Bonn Agreement in 2001, the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan has done a remarkable job in helping the Afghan authorities to provide security in and around the capital. This resolution helps pave the way for increased security in Afghanistan upon which nearly everything else is dependent."
"Afghanistan is a country that deserves the freedoms that international security assistance can help bring: the freedom to move about freely, the freedom for children to attend school and for their teachers to teach them, the freedom to live life without constant fighting and bloodshed, the freedom to join in the drafting of the constitution that will define their government, and, we hope, the freedom to vote next year in a free and fair election in order to decide who will run their country," the ambassador said.
NATO, which currently has 5,500 troops in Afghanistan, sent a letter to the Security Council earlier in the month indicating that planning was nearly completed on extending the force beyond Kabul and that countries were prepared to contribute additional troops to the mission.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
This page printed from: http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2003&m=October&x=20031014161440namfuaks0.3659479&t=usinfo/wf-latest.html
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