High-level UN mission arrives

In a robust message of support for the central government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, a high-level delegation from the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) arrived in the capital, Kabul, on Sunday, reaffirming the international community's willingness and support for reconstruction efforts. "The purpose of the visit is to deliver quite a few messages. First is a message to the Afghan people that Afghanistan is high on the agenda of the UNSC, and [that] the UNSC and the international community supports the reconstruction process in Afghanistan," Gunter Pleuger, Germany's ambassador to the UN and current UNSCE chairman, who is leading the mission, told reporters on arrival at Kabul International Airport. The second message for Karzai's government, the ambassador said, was that the UNSC supports Karzai's efforts to implement the Bonn agreement. UNSC members were looking forward to seeing a new constitution along with the preparations in progress in preparing for the elections scheduled to be held in June next year. "The third message is to the factional and provincial leaders to advise them to cooperate fully with the Afghan government to implement the Bonn agreement, because otherwise we will not have the necessary security to do the preparation, especially for the elections," Pleuger said. The week-long visit of the 15-member Council comes in the wake of its recent approval to expand the deployment of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) country-wide, a move that had long been called for by Afghans and aid workers alike. The aid community in Kabul has welcomed the UNSC's visit to the country at a time when threats and incidents of insecurity against aid workers have been increasing, particularly in the south of the country. "NGOs are very encouraged by this high profile visit of the UNSC to Afghanistan. It will help focus attention on Afghanistan's problems and improve understanding of Afghanistan among decision-makers at the highest levels," Paul Barker, the director of CARE International, told IRIN in Kabul. But given insecurity on the ground, that attention is more than needed. Just prior to the delegation's arrival, at least 10 people were killed in clashes over the last two days in the north and south, while on 30 October, a Turkish engineer was reportedly kidnapped while working along the Kabul-Kandahar highway. As part of this week's mission, delegation members will meet Karzai and other senior officials of the government, as well as UN and military officials, and representatives of human rights, women's and humanitarian organisations. "We will have talks with UN, ISAF and talks with NGOs to see how far the efforts have gone to build a civil society and to make sure that human rights are being observed in the process of rebuilding this country politically and economically," Pleuger said. Later, the 15-member delegation is scheduled to visit the western city of Herat and the troubled northern province of Mazar-e Sharif to hold talks with provincial leaders and factional commanders. The Council wants to impress on factional and provincial leaders the need to "cooperate fully with the central government". CARE regards the delegates' visits outside Kabul as vital for their gaining a clear picture of what is happening in the country. "I am pleased that they are making two visits outside of Kabul in order to get a taste of the issues faced in the north and west," Barker said. Meanwhile, the UN in Kabul said the UNSC's visit to Afghanistan was of prime importance in highlighting the world body's commitment to assisting the war-ravaged country. "The fact that the Security Council mission is coming with every single state member sitting on the Council shows the importance that Afghanistan still holds in the international community. This is basically a very strong signal to Afghans and the rest of the world that the UN is committed and the international community is committed to Afghanistan," David Singh, a media and public relations officer for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, told IRIN.