Afghanistan faces major security challenge, UN and NGOs warn
Sun Aug 3, 1:29 AM ET
KABUL (AFP) - While Afghan President Hamid Karzai says a recent wave of Taliban attacks and reports of militant regrouping are not serious, the United Nations (news - web sites) and aid groups have warned "deteriorating security" is the main challenge facing the central Asian nation.
At least 60 people have been killed over the past month in attacks by, and clashes with, suspected Taliban fighters and their al-Qaeda allies, mostly in their former heartland of southern Afghanistan (news - web sites).
Attacks in the past week alone have left 21 people dead, including 12 suspected Taliban and al-Qaeda, eight Afghan soldiers and an anti-Taliban mullah.
Karzai, however, is not worried about the ousted militia regrouping.
"I don't think this is a serious concern, I am not worried about that. The Taliban have no place in the Afghan people, that I know for a fact," Karzai said in an interview with the BBC aired Saturday.
US military chief General Richard Myers was also positive about progress in Afghanistan three months after Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declared an end to major combat.
"Security and stability are increasing and today we're helping the Afghan people help themselves through civil-military operations and provincial reconstruction teams," the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Wednesday. He was in Afghanistan to meet with Karzai and commanders of the US-led coalition hunting down Taliban and al-Qaeda remnants.
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan (news - web sites), however, has warned that deteriorating security would continue to dog the nation as it struggles to emerge from decades of war.
"The deteriorating security situation is identified as the main challenge facing the Afghan peace process and the international community is called upon to continue its strong engagement in Afghanistan," Annan said in his quarterly report on the central Asian nation released Thursday.
"The overall security situation throughout Afghanistan remains fragile and, in many areas, exhibits signs of deterioration."
Annan said "terrorists said to be aligned with the Taliban, al-Qaeda and (renegade former premier) Gulbuddin Hekmatyar have stepped up their activities."
The UN and Karzai have called for an extension of the Kabul-based peacekeeping International Security Assistance Force to the provinces but have been repeatedly rebuffed.
Afghanistan has the lowest ratio of peacekeepers to population of any recent post-conflict country, according to a study by international humanitarian organisation CARE.
While Kosovo and East Timor (news - web sites) had one peacekeeper to every 48 and 86 people, respectively, and Cambodia had one to every 727, the ratio for Afghanistan is one peacekeeper to every 5,380 Afghans.
Humanitarian organisations have also warned that an upsurge in attacks is threatening reconstruction work as militants target non-government organisations and deminers.
"Increasing violence in the country is undermining the reform process under the Bonn Agreement, impeding reconstruction and threatening upcoming elections," said Kevin Henry of CARE, referring to presidential polls due by June 2004.
"The international community must zero in and solve security problems so that the Afghan people can have increased confidence and trust in the road to peace."
Some 20 months after the ouster of the militia, the Taliban and their al-Qaeda allies or Hekmatyar extremists continue to launch regular attacks on government and foreign troops and and humanitarian targets.
Afghanistan faces major security challenge, UN and NGOs warn
Sun Aug 3, 1:29 AM ET
KABUL (AFP) - While Afghan President Hamid Karzai says a recent wave of Taliban attacks and reports of militant regrouping are not serious, the United Nations (news - web sites) and aid groups have warned "deteriorating security" is the main challenge facing the central Asian nation.
At least 60 people have been killed over the past month in attacks by, and clashes with, suspected Taliban fighters and their al-Qaeda allies, mostly in their former heartland of southern Afghanistan (news - web sites).
Attacks in the past week alone have left 21 people dead, including 12 suspected Taliban and al-Qaeda, eight Afghan soldiers and an anti-Taliban mullah.
Karzai, however, is not worried about the ousted militia regrouping.
"I don't think this is a serious concern, I am not worried about that. The Taliban have no place in the Afghan people, that I know for a fact," Karzai said in an interview with the BBC aired Saturday.
US military chief General Richard Myers was also positive about progress in Afghanistan three months after Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declared an end to major combat.
"Security and stability are increasing and today we're helping the Afghan people help themselves through civil-military operations and provincial reconstruction teams," the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Wednesday. He was in Afghanistan to meet with Karzai and commanders of the US-led coalition hunting down Taliban and al-Qaeda remnants.
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan (news - web sites), however, has warned that deteriorating security would continue to dog the nation as it struggles to emerge from decades of war.
"The deteriorating security situation is identified as the main challenge facing the Afghan peace process and the international community is called upon to continue its strong engagement in Afghanistan," Annan said in his quarterly report on the central Asian nation released Thursday.
"The overall security situation throughout Afghanistan remains fragile and, in many areas, exhibits signs of deterioration."
Annan said "terrorists said to be aligned with the Taliban, al-Qaeda and (renegade former premier) Gulbuddin Hekmatyar have stepped up their activities."
The UN and Karzai have called for an extension of the Kabul-based peacekeeping International Security Assistance Force to the provinces but have been repeatedly rebuffed.
Afghanistan has the lowest ratio of peacekeepers to population of any recent post-conflict country, according to a study by international humanitarian organisation CARE.
While Kosovo and East Timor (news - web sites) had one peacekeeper to every 48 and 86 people, respectively, and Cambodia had one to every 727, the ratio for Afghanistan is one peacekeeper to every 5,380 Afghans.
Humanitarian organisations have also warned that an upsurge in attacks is threatening reconstruction work as militants target non-government organisations and deminers.
"Increasing violence in the country is undermining the reform process under the Bonn Agreement, impeding reconstruction and threatening upcoming elections," said Kevin Henry of CARE, referring to presidential polls due by June 2004.
"The international community must zero in and solve security problems so that the Afghan people can have increased confidence and trust in the road to peace."
Some 20 months after the ouster of the militia, the Taliban and their al-Qaeda allies or Hekmatyar extremists continue to launch regular attacks on government and foreign troops and and humanitarian targets.
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