E-MAIL THIS LINK
To: 

UN gives more power to peacekeepers in Afghanistan
The United Nations Security Council has empowered the international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, known as ISAF, to operate throughout the country. Until now, ISAF's mandate has been confined to in and around the capital, Kabul. Large areas of Afghanistan are unsafe with analysts saying half of the provinces are high risk. The resolution gives ISAF a broad mandate, leaving specific deployment decisions to NATO, which currently leads the peacekeeping force. NATO wants to send troops to several provincial towns, starting with a deployment of up to 400 German soldiers in the northern city, Kunduz. In the longer term, the alliance wants to create what are termed "islands of security" in other urban centres, however, critics say this is too little, too late.
Critics always say that, though, don't they?
Outside Kabul, Hamid Karzai's administration has little authority and almost every day, remnants of the Taliban carry out attacks.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-10-14
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=19850