thedrifter
06-18-03, 08:24 AM
June 17, 2003
Small foreign units could soon patrol Afghanistan
By Todd Pitman
Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan — European nations are expressing interest in sending small teams of soldiers on humanitarian missions throughout war-ravaged Afghanistan, amid repeated international calls for moving peacekeeping forces beyond the capital, Kabul.
The concept was launched by the U.S. military, which already has three so-called Provincial Reconstruction Teams, or PRTs, in the country.
Philippe Morillon, the French head of an eight-member visiting European Parliament delegation, said Tuesday the PRTs were “a very interesting concept” that merits “serious consideration.”
“It should be better to have some very mobile detachments (deployed) all over the country than to launch big garrisons like we have here in Kabul,” Morillon said.
The U.N. special envoy to Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, has repeatedly advised the U.N. Security Council — which established the 29-nation peacekeeping force in Kabul in December 2001 — to expand the mission throughout the country, much of which is ruled by feuding warlords. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has made similar calls.
Britain has already agreed to set up one PRT in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, while Germany will establish another, said German Lt. Col. Thomas Lobbering, a spokesman for the 5,000-strong peacekeeping force that patrols Kabul.
A German reconnaissance team has been in the western city of Herat since Saturday to study setting up a PRT there. New Zealand, Belgium and the Netherlands have also expressed interest in establishing more such teams elsewhere, Lobbering said.
The U.S. military has set up PRTs in Gardez in the east, Kunduz in the north, and Bamiyan in central Afghanistan.
The teams, with up to 100 soldiers each, are supposed to boost stability while working on humanitarian projects such as building schools and clinics. So far, however, the U.S. teams have had virtually no impact on security.
Aid agencies have been highly critical of the American-led PRT effort, saying it blurs the line between military and humanitarian operations and endangers aid workers — who could be mistaken for soldiers.
Advocates say the peacekeeping force needs to be expanded to end fighting between rival warlords and help boost security while the country embarks on a program of disarming warlord militias, establishing a new constitution and holding crucial national elections in June 2004.
The PRTS “could bring, to a certain extent, more safety and security right now, and it will not take months and months to get the results,” Lobbering said.
Morillon said the PRTs should be “accompanied by the (establishment) of a rapid reaction force in order to intervene in any point where one of these small detachments is put in some difficulty.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.
Sempers,
Roger
:marine:
Small foreign units could soon patrol Afghanistan
By Todd Pitman
Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan — European nations are expressing interest in sending small teams of soldiers on humanitarian missions throughout war-ravaged Afghanistan, amid repeated international calls for moving peacekeeping forces beyond the capital, Kabul.
The concept was launched by the U.S. military, which already has three so-called Provincial Reconstruction Teams, or PRTs, in the country.
Philippe Morillon, the French head of an eight-member visiting European Parliament delegation, said Tuesday the PRTs were “a very interesting concept” that merits “serious consideration.”
“It should be better to have some very mobile detachments (deployed) all over the country than to launch big garrisons like we have here in Kabul,” Morillon said.
The U.N. special envoy to Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, has repeatedly advised the U.N. Security Council — which established the 29-nation peacekeeping force in Kabul in December 2001 — to expand the mission throughout the country, much of which is ruled by feuding warlords. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has made similar calls.
Britain has already agreed to set up one PRT in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, while Germany will establish another, said German Lt. Col. Thomas Lobbering, a spokesman for the 5,000-strong peacekeeping force that patrols Kabul.
A German reconnaissance team has been in the western city of Herat since Saturday to study setting up a PRT there. New Zealand, Belgium and the Netherlands have also expressed interest in establishing more such teams elsewhere, Lobbering said.
The U.S. military has set up PRTs in Gardez in the east, Kunduz in the north, and Bamiyan in central Afghanistan.
The teams, with up to 100 soldiers each, are supposed to boost stability while working on humanitarian projects such as building schools and clinics. So far, however, the U.S. teams have had virtually no impact on security.
Aid agencies have been highly critical of the American-led PRT effort, saying it blurs the line between military and humanitarian operations and endangers aid workers — who could be mistaken for soldiers.
Advocates say the peacekeeping force needs to be expanded to end fighting between rival warlords and help boost security while the country embarks on a program of disarming warlord militias, establishing a new constitution and holding crucial national elections in June 2004.
The PRTS “could bring, to a certain extent, more safety and security right now, and it will not take months and months to get the results,” Lobbering said.
Morillon said the PRTs should be “accompanied by the (establishment) of a rapid reaction force in order to intervene in any point where one of these small detachments is put in some difficulty.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.
Sempers,
Roger
:marine: