Military

DATE=11/11/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=U-N/AFGHANISTAN (L-O)

NUMBER=2-309710

BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN

DATELINE=UNITED NATIONS

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The United Nations has ordered staff in the Afghan city of Kandahar to take extra security precautions in the wake of a bomb attack on the city's U-N offices. From U-N headquarters in New York, Peter Heinlein reports a Security Council team that just returned from Afghanistan is warning of security risks.

TEXT: Spokesman Fred Eckhard says all international U-N staff in Kandahar have been told to stay indoors until further notice. Local staff have been sent home. Mr. Eckhard says the order will force a temporary disruption of U-N services in southern Afghanistan.

///ECKHARD ACT///

By compelling U-N staff to stay at home temporarily, the Afghan people will suffer the consequences of today's bombing.

///END ACT///

The stay-at-home order came as a team of Security Council ambassadors was reporting on their just-completed tour of Afghanistan. The delegation leader, German Ambassador Gunter Pleuger, said the lack of security -- he called it the "rule of the gun" -- remains a huge challenge.

He says conditions are worst in the Pashtun-dominated south and east, where terrorists, and warlords such as former Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar are challenging Kabul's authority.

///PLEUGER ACT///

In the provinces of the south, southeast and east, insecurity is greatly exacerbated by terrorist attacks from suspected Taleban, al-Qaida, and supporters of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. These elements pose a significant threat to the newly established national police forces, to Afghans supportive of the central government, and increasingly to the assistance community.

///END ACT///

Ambassador Pleuger said while there has been significant progress in Afghanistan, human rights are still being trampled. He said the team heard complaints that in some cases, perpetrators of grave human rights violations continue to hold high public office.

He said the conditions for Afghan women seem little better than under Taleban rule.

///2ND PLEUGER ACT///

The mission was shocked to learn about the frequent death threats against women's rights activists and that the rate of suicide among women was very high -- in the last six months alone there were more than 40 cases, often as women were reacting in desperation against forced marriages.

///END ACT///

Members of the mission say human rights and security concerns are greater in the former Taleban stronghold of Kandahar. Officials blame remnants of the Taleban for a rash of violent incidents over the past three months, including the deaths of two Afghan aid workers in neighboring Helmand province.

Taleban insurgents have declared aid workers legitimate targets in their war against foreign influence and the government of President Hamid Karzai. (Signed)

NEB/PH/RH