Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

8 July 2004

AFGHANISTAN

• According to Reuters, an official said in Kabul Thursday an Afghan woman working with the UN to register voters for elections was killed and another wounded, along with a driver, when their car hit a landmine in eastern Afghanistan. The second fatal attack on women poll workers in less than two weeks came just after the interior minister said security should be sufficient for polls this year and the UN urged NATO to speed the dispatch of more peacekeepers to ensure this, notes the dispatch. It adds that at a news briefing in Kabul, a UN spokesman said it was unclear when extra troops pledged by NATO would arrive. “We hope it becomes clear very quickly. We hope that the decisions of NATO rematerialize on the ground, in particular to provide an environment for enhanced security for candidates before and during the election campaign and during the elections themselves,” he reportedly said.

An article in The Scotsman, July 3, viewed the challenges of Afghanistan. The author, who met Gen. Jones a few weeks ago, observes that where Afghanistan is concerned, he is an optimist. He writes: “(Gen. Jones) invited me to come with him and see why. As SACEUR, he is responsible for ISAF…. Some of the responsibilities formally exercised by Enduring Freedom have been taken over by ISAF, principally around Kabul. It liaises closely with aid agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) which are promoting Afghan development. As the name suggests, ISAF is meant to mark the transition between peacemaking and peacekeeping. General Jones has said that it ought to think of itself as an NGO in uniform. There are hopeful signs. President Karzai and his ministers not only talk of economic development and free trade; they seem to mean it. One-stop shops for opening businesses with foreigners allowed 100 per cent ownership; minimal import duties on capital goods; low taxes; on hearing all this, some American businessmen whom Gen. Jones had also brought with him moved from skepticism to caution. President Karzai is also keen to hold an election, … but he will need more NATO troops to ensure it can take place. Gen Jones would be delighted to help, if the NATO nations would supply the men.… There is a sense that Karzai and ISAF have a certain amount of precarious momentum. This is giving them the chance to build up the Afghan National Army (ANA) and the police force. Gen Jones was keen to encourage the ANA. As he told the men of ISAF: ‘We are here to work ourselves out of a job.’” The article concluded: “If the West were to write off Afghanistan, there would be nothing to prevent the re-emergence of Al-Qaeda, or its successors.… We should give Jim Jones the modest resources he needs to implement his optimistic strategy.”
Looking at the situation beyond the borders of Kabul, the Stars and Stripes writes that U.S. soldiers in Herat may soon have international help. “As NATO installs its own PRT in the north and eyes Afghanistan’s west, it intends to meet the Americans in Herat. They did not announce when, but at the Istanbul summit, Alliance leaders decided to send a few hundred troops to Herat to form a logistics hub for the Alliance’s westward expansion, and plan to set up a quick reaction force to deploy in case of trouble,” the newspaper says. It also quotes Gen. Jones saying during a recent visit to Afghanistan that the drug problem is that of the emerging government. The Alliance, he reportedly said, must focus on fighting terrorism and building the Afghan National Army. According to the newspaper, he said the big challenge is weaning Afghans off the poppy crop without providing another option. “It’s got to be replaced by other economic activity,” he suggested.

BALKANS

• Kosovo’s Parliament threw down the gauntlet to the province’s UN overseers Thursday, when it adopted changes to its constitution including the right to call a referendum on independence, reports Reuters. The dispatch adds that the amendment also included switching control for international relations and public security from UNMIK to local institutions. It stresses, however, that to become a law the amendments must be signed by Kosovo’s acting UN governor, who has already warned Parliament only the UN has the authority to make major changes to the constitution. According to the dispatch, the UN mission warned ahead of the vote that “any comprehensive review of the Constitutional Framework is outside the competence of the assembly.” AFP remarks that the vote came less than four months after ethnic Albanians went on a mob rampage against the Serb minority in the worst violence the province has seen since the war.