BRUSSELS - The European Union may send an observer team to Afghanistan to monitor its August presidential elections, but only if the security situation allows, officials in Brussels said Monday."(EU foreign) ministers underscored that the EU had an important role to play in funding the election and deploying a substantial election observation mission across the country," said Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, whose country holds the bloc's rotating presidency, at a meeting of top EU diplomats in Brussels.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that the EU wanted to send an observation mission, but that "we have to assess the security situation before taking a decision."
EU External Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said the EU would first send an exploratory mission to the country in the coming weeks. "According to the assessment of the exploratory mission, I will take a decision," Ferrero-Waldner said.
The EU has deployed a number of election monitoring missions to the world's hotspots. But the August vote, in which Afghan President Hamid Karzai may vie for re-election, is considered particularly fraught with dangers due to Taliban insurgency.
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The EU pledged 8 billion euros (10 billion dollars) in reconstruction aid for the period 2001-10.
Earlier Monday, Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb said his country would soon double the number of its troops in the NATO-led force in Afghanistan to some 200. Neutral Finland is not a NATO member but takes part in the alliance's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, which operates under UN mandate. "We will double our presence from about 100 to 200 for the elections, and in that sense I hope that we have responded to the requests (for more troops) that have come from the United States," Stubb told journalists in Brussels.
The majority of Europe's involvement in Afghanistan is carried out under the banner of NATO. Just under half the troops serving with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) are European. But deep divisions remain between countries such as Britain and Denmark, who have committed large numbers of troops to the combat zones, and those such as Germany and Italy, which are reluctant to follow suit.
"We are not talking about more troops, we are talking about implementing a comprehensive strategy, because military commitment is not enough," Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said. "We need political engagement, rule of law, we need stabilization at the border region, and so we need much more than only military commitment," he said.