Foreign military force unlikely to control territory

War on terrorism: United Nations

The United Nations is looking at sending a multinational force into Afghanistan primarily to shadow the troops and commanders of the country's warlords and to monitor the actions of the Northern Alliance. However, the troops would not take any explicit role in controlling territory.

The aim, UN officials said, would be at least to give the impression that the Afghans themselves were in charge of stabilising their own land. "You do not take a command position in a situation like this," one official noted, asking not to be named. "You stand behind them and ventriloquise to a certain extent."

The UN Security Council was ready last night to adopt a new resolution giving broad but non-specific support to the deployment of foreign troops. The draft encourages governments "to support efforts to ensure the safety and security of areas of Afghanistan no longer under Taliban control".

The same resolution aims to give clear backing to the UN special envoy dealing with Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, who is rushing to jump-start a process leading to the creation of a two-year transitional government in Kabul. Mr Brahimi is planning to convene a first conference of delegates of the National Alliance and other exile groups by early next week, probably in the United Arab Emirates, to begin political consultations.

Any multinational force will be composed in the first instance of soldiers from Britain and the United States, because they already have troops in the region. Several other countries are expected to send reinforcements, however, including Turkey, Australia, Malaysia, France, Canada and possibly Bangladesh.

Diplomats in New York drew a contrast with the multinational force deployed in Kosovo, which aggressively advanced and secured territory. This would be a lower-profile, stop-gap operation. And it would not be a UN force, which would take too long to organise. The Afghans have made it clear they only want foreign soldiers inside their borders for a short time.

Once there, the multinational force would assume several tasks. The operation to hunt down the al-Qa'ida network and Osama bin Laden as well as the Taliban leadership is far from over. That effort would continue. At the same time, foreign troops would be called upon to help tribal leaders and commanders police the cities and the countryside and to ease the flow of humanitarian aid.

There is also a desire that the Northern Alliance should feel it is being kept under scrutiny by the foreign community. "We will be sending as many people to as many places as possible to mark the Northern Alliance's card," one diplomat noted. The aim is to prevent any further atrocities being committed and to curb any instincts the Alliance might have to declare itself the government. Keeping an eye on the Northern Alliance will be the role of a second special UN envoy to Afghanistan, Francesc Vendrell, an assistant secretary general. A close adviser to the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, Mr Vendrell is expected to travel to Kabul from Pakistan within 48 hours to set up a UN office in the capital. He will also be impressing upon the Northern Alliance that it should not be moving to take permanent control of the capital city.

Mr Brahimi, meanwhile, who is a former Algerian foreign minister, will be entering a diplomatic hailstorm as different factions jostle for representation at the conference he is attempting to convene next week. His aim is to reach an agreement to set up a more formal consultative conference to forge a pact on a transitional government. Later, perhaps early in the New Year, he would attempt to convene a traditional national assembly of all the tribes, known as a loya jirga, to endorse the work of the consultative conference, which would eventually include the drafting of a new constitution.

Central to Mr Brahimi's efforts will be the former Afghan king, Zahir Shah, 87, who has been meeting exile groups in Rome, where he has lived in exile for nearly 30 years. The best hope Mr Brahimi has of involving the non-Taliban elements of the majority Pashtun tribe in future talks is if they accept the over-arching authority of the former king. However, the UN does not see a long-term role for him.

The status of Kabul is also on Mr Brahimi's agenda. UN officials expect him in the medium term to try to establish the capital as a demilitarised zone. Again, foreign soldiers would probably be deployed behind Afghan troops to guard the perimeter of the city to stop other armed factions entering.