First international peacekeeping forces deployed outside Kabul

Following continual calls by aid workers and Afghans alike for the expansion of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) outside the confines of the Afghan capital, Kabul, the first ISAF forces were deployed to the northeastern city of Konduz on Saturday. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has long demanded that the 5,000-strong force's mandate be expanded to help him reassert his control beyond Kabul. "We are 27 men and we will get the next group of people in two weeks' time. By the end of this year, we should have the strength of 150," Col Kurt Schiebold, the German commander of the first ISAF forces outside Kabul, told IRIN following their arrival at Konduz airport. And while they would stick to 150 for this year, to be fully operational, that number would be increased to 450 by the middle of next year, he explained. Expansion of the NATO-led force beyond Kabul is viewed as a key move towards strengthening security throughout the country's troubled provinces, where insecurity has increasingly hampered reconstruction efforts in the fragile nation. German and Canadian troops make up the bulk of ISAF, which is separate from the US-led operation against Taliban remnants in southern and eastern Afghanistan. Konduz is considered one of the more secure of the country's provinces. It completed a UN-backed disarmament of 1,000 combatants one day before the arrival of the international peacekeepers. In the context of his force's tasks, Schiebold said these comprised the provision of support for all-round security, such as support for the reorganisation of security, monitoring disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) of ex-combatants, and contributing towards the promotion of cooperation between the civil authorities and the military. The Germans troops are set to replace a 70-man US-led coalition provincial reconstruction team [PRT] which had been in the province for several months. "This mission is for sure challenging," the German colonel said, emphasising the importance of their PRT colleagues' experience in the area. The US PRT commander in Konduz, Col Frederick Towes, said the role of the Germans in Konduz and four other provinces in the region would be significant as many important events were set to take place there in the course of the coming months. "It is extremely significant that they are coming here, which means more help for Afghanistan. There are larger numbers coming to Konduz, more civilians, which will translate to more help for the people of Konduz and the four provinces," Towes told IRIN in Konduz, adding that the Germans would play an important role in the DDR process currently under way in the province. "DDR is one of the elements that is necessary to help Afghanistan regain its former glory. It is one of the very many pieces of the puzzle." Meanwhile, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has welcomed the arrival of ISAF in Konduz, calling it a positive development. "This is very significant, because the UN and the Afghan authorities have been asking for it for a long, long time. I am happy this is happening in Konduz," Sergiy Illarionov, the head of office for UNAMA's northeastern region in Konduz told IRIN. Whereas he did not expect significant changes of the current situation, he did believe there would be positive ones. "We are getting signs from the German government that the deployment of the forces will also be supported by German NGOs with extra financial support for this particular region, which is very important. Unfortunately, somehow this region has been sidelined from big projects and big reconstruction programmes," Illarionov said. The Germans would play a significant role in capacity building and strengthening the governmental infrastructure, including police stations, detention houses, and the training of police, he said, stressing the need to establish strong community links to educate people on why ISAF was there and what their mission was.