First multinational troops arrive in Kabul
An 11 nation advance team for Afghanistan’s international peacekeeping force has arrived in Kabul to assess what needs to be done before the arrival of foreign troops joining the British forces already providing security there.
British Colonel Richard Barrens, chief of staff at the headquarters of the International Security Assistance Force, said the 25 person team includes representatives from Germany, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Norway, Romania, Spain and Sweden.
‘‘Our mission is to provide (Afghans) with whatever assistance they feel they need,’’ Barrens said in the newly established headquarters for international peacekeepers, a former military officers’ club in central Kabul. ‘‘Our mission is to assist them in the security of Kabul.’’
Guy Richardson, a spokesman for the British security forces, said meetings will be held in the next few days with Afghan leaders and British military commanders, who began arriving shortly before the December 22 inauguration of Afghanistan’s interim government.
Top on the agenda, Richardson said, will be trips into the countryside to assess where to deploy troops outside the capital.
Several main roads are considered unsafe because of armed bandits, and sporadic fights with pockets of al-Qaida fighters have been reported.
French Colonel Jean Marc Marill said one of the greatest difficulties facing international forces will be the removal of land mines, especially around Kabul’s airport, where more troops will arrive in the coming weeks.
‘‘We will have to de-mine many of the areas around which we will be working before getting started,’’ Marill said.
Stocking and refurbishing the abandoned, bullet-ridden officers’ club now being used by the peacekeepers as their HQ will also be difficult.
‘‘All our trucks, water, food has had to be brought from the UK,’’ Barrens said. ‘‘In Afghanistan, there is very little for us to use in establishing this force.’’
Troops sent outside Kabul, Col. Barrens said, ‘‘will face the same challenges as we have of bringing forces by air into Afghanistan, in the middle of the winter, and deploying and sustaining them.’’
Clearing Kabul of armed militiamen, a condition of talks in Germany which established the framework of the interim government, will be left to the discretion of Afghan leaders.
‘‘What we can or can’t do will be up to the Afghan authorities and we are here to help them as best we can,’’ Barrens said.
