NATO's top commander for Europe held talks Saturday with Afghanistan's incumbent President Hamid Karzai, two days after calling for a merger of the two multinational forces operating in the violence-hit central Asian state. General James Jones was joined by the head of the NATO-led peacekeepers in Afghanistan, General Jean Py, in meeting Karzai, who has just won a landslide victory in his country's first presidential election although the result has yet to be certified.
| Somehow, I'm guessing it will be... |
Jones hailed the October 9 ballot, which drew around 80 percent of registered voters and passed without feared violence. "We are happy to see positive changes in Afghanistan and to have witnessed the success of the elections," Jones said. "The Afghan people showed to the entire world how Afghanistan can be a democratic and peaceful country."
| Assuming Karzai can continue avoiding assassination... |
The UN-mandated International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), currently made up of 9,000 multinational troops, helped secure the 5,000 polling stations. "The good conduct of the elections, the fight against narcotics, parliamentary elections and the expansion of NATO forces under ISAF command to the west of Afghanistan were discussed in the meeting," a statement from the presidential palace said. ISAF began early this year expanding beyond its original confines of Kabul, establishing teams in relatively quiet northern provinces. The force has been under heavy pressure for almost two years to deploy troops to the provinces, where insecurity is still rife due to warring local commanders and a Taleban-led insurgency.
| Desite the mockery for being "the mayor of Kabul," Karzai's been doing one heck of a job bringing the warlords to heel. |
Jones voiced his support on Thursday for a merger of the peacekeeping force with the 18,000-strong US-led military coalition, which is tasked with hunting Al Qaeda, Taleban and other extremists. "It's a good idea ... I think it's the right way ahead," Jones told a press conference at the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's European military command in Mons, Belgium. The United States has pressed its allies to study a possible merger of ISAF and its own combat-oriented force. The proposal is opposed by France and Germany on the grounds that they oppose everything the US favors the two missions are different. But Jones said a merger would help "eliminate force redundancies". "As a general philosophy ... it's always better to integrate if you can," he said. The general expected ISAF's expansion to western Afghanistan "by the (northern) spring at the latest".
| I think they're talking about what Kerry'd call an exit plan. An international force is needed, but I don't think the Taliban have much life left in them. They're pretty obviously a purely Pak phenomenon now, and with civil war brewing in South Waziristan they're not going to have too much time to devote to Afghanistan. |
| And of course if sKerry gets elected, he'll claim credit for "getting us out of Afghanistan", along with "jump-starting the economy" and a few others ... |
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