Afghanistan urges NATO to expand takeover of peacekeeping

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Afghanistan welcomed the impending NATO takeover of the 5,000-strong multinational peacekeeping force Sunday and urged that it be expanded beyond Kabul.

NATO is taking over command of the International Security Assistance Force in large part to end the arduous task of searching for a new "lead nation" every six months to run it. Germany and the Netherlands have jointly led the force for the last six months.

A change-of-command ceremony is scheduled for today.

"The Afghan Government is confident that ISAF's mission effectiveness will be enhanced by NATO's new role at the helm of the peacekeeping force in Kabul," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Largely because of the peacekeepers' presence, Kabul is now considered generally safe, while the rest of country is ruled by rival warlords whose armed factions often turn their guns on each other.

On Sunday, the United Nations said it had suspended road travel for its workers in a southern Afghanistan region where five policemen were wounded and Afghan aid workers were tied up and beaten.

Extending the mandate

President Hamid Karzai's government, along with U.N. special envoy to Afghanistan Lakhdar Brahimi and human rights groups, have called for the peacekeepers' mandate to be expanded outside the capital, particularly with general elections set for June 2004.

So far, however, no nation has been willing to support that endeavor. Outgoing ISAF commander Lt. Gen. Norbert van Heyst said last week it would require at least 10,000 additional soldiers.

"The Afghan government remains convinced that starting serious and meaningful discussions among all stake-holders to consider expanding the U.N.-approved mandate of ISAF beyond Kabul can take place at the earliest opportune time," the Foreign Ministry said.

NATO spokesman Mark Laity told reporters in Kabul it was premature to talk about expanding the operation.

"I can't imagine that we would want to debate this issue until we are very confident that we are settled in, that we are fulfilling the existing mandate as well as possible," Laity said.

"But of course it (a discussion on expansion) is inevitable at some stage. If people keep raising the question, then we'll have to have an answer."

Laity said a single, open-ended command by NATO would bring more continuity to the mission. Most commanders have been rotated out after six-month tours-of-duty after learning Afghanistan's complexities.

The 30-nation force was created in December 2001 to bolster security in Kabul in the wake of the U.S.-led war that toppled the Taliban, which had granted haven to Osama bin Laden's terrorist network. Laity said the force will continue operating exactly as before, with the "same mission, same mandate, same banner."