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Italy becomes international force in Afghanistan

Posted on: Wednesday, 3 August 2005, 09:15 CDT

By David Fox

KABUL (Reuters) - The international force tasked with keeping the peace in Afghanistan's capital and other key areas changes command on Thursday at a time when security in the country is at the worst it has been since the Taliban's fall.

Command of the 8,000 strong, NATO-led International Security and Assistance force (ISAF), made up of troops and support staff from 49 countries, will change from Turkey to Italy in a largely symbolic ceremony that is likely to see little change in how the force operates.

ISAF has been deployed mainly in Kabul after the Taliban regime's fall in 2001 as part of a mostly American coalition force currently numbering around 28,000.

The six-monthly change in ISAF's command comes amid mounting violence ahead of the country's parliamentary elections scheduled for next month, which, following last year's presidential poll, will give Afghanistan a fully democratically elected government for the first time ever.

Most of the violence has been kept out of the capital -- which is ISAF's main operating area -- and the fledgling Afghan National Army and U.S.-led forces operating in the rugged eastern and southern countryside have taken the brunt of the Taliban-led insurgency.

Hundreds of people -- including 36 U.S. soldiers -- have died since March, the bloodiest period since the Taliban's fall in late 2001.

But ISAF patrols are now more regular in the Afghan capital -- although they are still relaxed affairs that attract the attention of passers-by, particularly children.

"We like ISAF," Mohammed, a street urchin trying to hawk fake designer sunglasses outside the force's Kabul headquarters, said in broken English.

"They buy our things and give us sweets," he added.

AFGHAN PARTNERS

But ISAF's relations with its Afghan partners have not always been so free and easy.

Senior officers all insist they are there to "assist" the Afghan government and its forces, but over the years many privately admit that cooperation has not been all that it could have been.

Language, culture, training and logistics have all played a part -- with the NATO-led force frequently complaining that their Afghan counterparts just don't have the resources to do the job properly, and the locals complaining that the foreigners didn't know how things worked in Afghanistan.

"There is no question that ISAF has, almost to the letter of its mandate, done a very good job," said one Western diplomat.

"Some people may say they have had the 'easy task' in Kabul, but they have done it well. They have won hearts and minds and kept the capital largely safe and secure."

ISAF also has several hundred troops stationed in northern and western parts of the country, regarded as stable compared to the south and east where the Taliban and their allies are mostly active.

And the force plans to deploy troops in the south and east next year and has pledged to send an additional 2,000 soldiers to help security for parliamentary polls next month.

The Afghan government says it expects no change in ISAF's operations in the capital -- although some locals will be sorry to see the end of the command by fellow Muslim nation Turkey.

The Turks won scores of friends around Kabul by organising particularly Islamic community building activities such as mass circumcisions for boys who missed out in the past because of conflict.

"There will be no change as it is a regular one," Khaliq Ahmad, a spokesman in President Hamid Karzai said on Wednesday of the change.

"It would have no impact as in the past British, German and French were in command.

Source: REUTERS

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