Annan Urges to Deploy Multinational Force to Other Afghan Cities

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, August 01, 2003

Annan Urges to Deploy Multinational Force to Other Afghan Cities

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United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday urged the Security Council to expand the mandate of the multinational force ISAF to other key Afghan cities in order to create security conditions for the elections slated for next summer.

In a report to the council, Annan said holding free and fair elections requires the development of an effective electoral process and a security environment that will allow eligible Afghans to fully participate.

"At present such an environment does not really exist," the report noted.

The report said the security situation was even showing signs of deterioration in some parts of Afghanistan -- the north in particular. And there has been an increase in terrorist activitiesalong the southern and eastern borders and a remarkable rise in attacks against the assistance community over the past three months.

Deploying the International Security Assistance Force, which now only polices the Afghan capital of Kabul, to other cities across the country is "both necessary and the best way to fill thesecurity gap," it stressed.

"Without security, the accomplishments of the government of Afghanistan and the significant investments of the international community are at risk," it warned.

Failure to address the threat of insecurity in Afghanistan in several years to come could also lead to consequences far beyond the borders of the country, which harbored the al Qaida group blamed for the terrorist attacks on the United States in Sept. 11,2001, Annan wrote in the report, an update issued every four months.

"Ultimately, security must be provided by Afghan security institutions, but training sufficient numbers of professional security forces, including national police and Afghan National Army will require several years," the report noted.

But it also admitted that despite considerable obstacles, the implementation of the 2001 Bonn peace accord was largely on track.

The Security Council authorized in December 2001 the deploymentof the ISAF in Kabul to protect the interim Afghan government fromattacks by the nation's warlords and remnants of the Taliban regime and al Qaida. But the contributing nations, mainly NATO members, have since been reluctant to expand the force's mandate beyond the city.

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