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NATO
Takes Command Of Afghan Peacekeepers
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Gen.
James Jones, center, receives ISAF flag from Lt. Gen. Heyst of
Germany, right, before handing over to Gliemeroth, left
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KABUL,
August 11 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - NATO took command
Monday, August 11, of international peacekeepers tasked with enforcing
security in the Afghan capital, heralding the 54-year-old alliance's
first mission outside Europe.
At
a ceremony in central Kabul outgoing German commander Lieutenant General
Norbert van Heyst passed the flag of the International Security
Assistance Force (ISAF) to NATO Lieutenant General Goetz Gliemeroth,
Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.
"NATO's
takeover of the ISAF mission demonstrates our nations' long-term
commitment to stability, security and the future development of the
Afghan people," Gliemeroth, also of Germany, said on accepting
command of the mission.
Afghan
President Hamid Karzai and German Defense Minister Peter Struck were
among 300 military, United Nations, NATO and Afghan officials witnessing
the handover ceremony at a school in central Kabul.
"The
task ahead now is to continue building democratic structures,"
Struck declared after the landmark handover.
"Afghanistan
must not lapse back into anarchy and chaos and Afghanistan must not
again become the home of global terror as was the case under the rule of
the Taliban.
"We
must go on to make our contribution towards the formation of government
structures until the Afghan authorities are capable of guaranteeing safe
and secure environment by themselves."
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Peace
is still a far-reached dream in Afghanistan
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The
force of 5,300 soldiers from 31 nations, including 110 U.S.
peacekeepers, has been deployed in Kabul since December 2001. It was set
up weeks after the defeat of the Taliban regime to safeguard the
capital.
Twenty
months on, war-torn Afghanistan's provinces are rife with instability
from in-fighting between rival warlords and an intensified insurgency by
fighters loyal to the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and rebel war lord Gulbuddin
Hekmatyar.
Even
in Kabul, a relative island of safety amid the unruly 32 provinces, the
peacekeepers have been targeted in rocket and car bomb attacks.
In
June, four German ISAF soldiers were killed by a suicide car bomber in
the worst ever attack against the force.
But
despite the violence, calls from Afghan and United Nations leaders to
deploy ISAF troops in the provinces remain unheeded by the international
community.
On
Monday, new commander Gliemeroth gave no indication of expanding the
mission, saying that NATO would stick to the same United
Nations-sanctioned mandate that has existed since its creation.
That
mandate tasks it with helping to keep the peace in Kabul only, as well
as to train the nascent army and police forces.
Outgoing
Isaf commander Lieutenant General Norbert van Heyst, handed over Isaf's
green flag of command to fellow German Lieutenant General Gotz
Gliemeroth, at the ceremony at the recently refurbished Amani High
School, reported the BBC online news service.
The
school auditorium was ringed by armed peacekeepers and armored cars
mounted with machine guns. Bomb-sniffing dogs were on hand to search for
any explosives, BBC reported.
NATO's
takeover brings an end to the biannual cycle of transferring ISAF's
command to a new country. Since its creation the force has been led by
Britain, Turkey and jointly by Germany and the Netherlands since
February.
NATO
officials said continuity of command would allow the force to take a
longer-term look at security in Afghanistan.
Spokesman
Mark Laity said Sunday that there would be discussions on expansion, but
no deviation for the time being
"We
are not changing ISAF. We are here under the same mission, the same
mandate and the same banner," Laity told reporters.
While
NATO's other missions in Kosovo and Bosnia had a ratio of one
peacekeeper for every 48 and 58 people respectively, the ratio for
Afghanistan is one peacekeeper to every 5,380 Afghans, according to
international humanitarian organization CARE.
A
separate U.S.-led coalition force of some 12,500 troops is hunting
Taliban and Al-Qaeda remnants across Afghanistan but is not involved in
peacekeeping operations.
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