NATO completes expansion in the north

More than 2,000 troops have been deployed in Afghanistan by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) to support the Afghan security forces during Saturday’s presidential polls, NATO officials confirmed to IRIN on Wednesday. With some 9,000 soldiers, NATO now has troops in all five northern provinces in addition to the main deployment in the Afghan capital, Kabul, under the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The fifth ISAF Provisional Reconstruction Team (PRT) reached the northern province of Baghlan on 1 October. “This brings to an end the first phase of ISAF expansion as well as ISAF’s augmentation in support of Afghanistan’s presidential election,” Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, NATO’s secretary general, said. The expansion in the northern provinces will support the Afghan elections on 9 October and included a UK-led PRTs in the cities of Mazar-e Sharif and Meymaneh, a German-led PRT in Feyzabad and a Dutch-led PRT in Baghlan. ISAF has already commanded a PRT in Kunduz. In addition, those troops already operating in the country have been strengthened since the security situation seriously deteriorated as the elections approached, forcing, for example, the pull out of the international NGO Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in July. “ISAF has been temporarily augmented by one US Quick Reaction company for Kabul, one Quick Reaction Force battalion from Spain and one in-theatre Operational Reserve Force battalion from Italy,” de Hoop Scheffer stated. NATO deployment came after the organisation agreed at its summit, held on 28 – 29 June in Istanbul, on a further expansion in Afghanistan in the light of the upcoming elections. More than 50 NGOs working in Afghanistan reiterated their call for NATO to refocus its attention on the security needs of the Afghan people, while international aid workers had expressed doubts over the effectiveness of NATO’s expansion plans. They argued that the expansion in the form of PRTs would not necessarily improve the security situation since they had a mixed mandate, both humanitarian and assistance with security. A NATO official told IRIN that the PRTs’ role was to assist Afghan security forces in providing security, giving the main responsibility to the Afghan police and army. “ISAF is there to support the Afghan authorities,” the NATO official remarked. Meanwhile, NGOs in the country expressed serious concerns over growing levels of insecurity in southern Afghanistan. But, the Brussels-based alliance has just completed its deployment in the north and has plans to expand its presence in the west. The southern part of the country would be the last phase, according to NATO sources.