Rocket salvo shatters the Kabul calm

THE AFGHAN presidential elections have been hailed as a return to normality, some commentators giving the impression that from now on Afghanistan is in the process of becoming just another Central Asian bureaucracy. But during an election lull on Saturday (16 October) four rockets crashed into Kabul, reminding the Afghans that in spite of the presence of international troops, those who are still conventionally referred to as the Taliban have not been defeated and cannot be ignored.

Ensuring the security of Kabul is the task of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. The ISAF headquarters, mischievously called “the Club” by the locals, is situated in the residential area of Wazir Akbar Khan. The name recalls an Afghan prince and military chief who in 1841 routed the English and massacred the entirety of Her Majesty's occupation forces - more than 16,000 soldiers, civilians and their families. The whole episode is still mentioned with pride by ordinary Afghans.

Having been taken over by NATO in August, ISAF is currently run by the five-nation Eurocorps, a still to be defined military structure built upon the Franco-German battalion, which is engaged in its first important mission on the field. The Afghans might be forgiven for ignoring all these acronyms and denominations. Eurocorps' commander in Kabul, the French Lieutenant-General Jean-Louis Py agrees that “some of the subtle implications of Eurocorps running ISAF in the NATO framework might be lost on the Afghans, given the fact that they don't have a good grasp of what's going on in Europe in general... and in the Eurocorps in particular”.

What, on the contrary might not be lost on the Afghans is the lack of appropriate means of transportation that cripples the operations of ISAF-cum-Eurocorps under NATO. Coupled with restrictions imposed by participant countries on the use of military equipment, this is a burden on the running of operations in Afghanistan.

But General Py defends his lot: “I do not think it fair to say that we lack transportation means... what is difficult to get used to are all the restrictions that each country imposes on the means put at our disposal. Before every mission, we have to check whether it falls inside the national restrictions imposed on the means given to us. There are for instance the Turkish helicopters attributed to the Kabul zone, but which I cannot use in the North.”

In the same building, NATO's Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan, Turkish former foreign minister Hikmet �tin, admits that there is a transportation problem. “This is not only the case with the Turkish helicopters, this is a permanent problem, it's what we call the caveats, the national restrictions. Most countries have this kind of restriction on their troops and equipment.”

�tin says that he personally does not agree with this. “I think the commander of ISAF should have more flexibility to use troops, to use helicopters, planes or any other equipment. We are working on this.

“The Secretary-General [Jaap de Hoop Scheffer] is aware of this. I remember that last time when we were together, at the Istanbul summit [28-29 June], he said that he hated these caveats.”

But NATO also uses Ukrainian transport planes - made available to German and Spanish troops, in particular. The Spaniards have bad memories of these: in May, a Ukrainian plane carrying 75 people, mostly Spanish troops returning from peacekeeping in Afghanistan, crashed in Turkey's Black Sea region killing everybody on board.

Some criticise ISAF's reliance on Ukraine for the transport of its troops because the autocratic regime there has been upbraided by the EU. Its president is accused of being involved in the disappearance of opposition figures and critical journalists have been found decapitated.

But General Py would not let himself be dragged into political subjects: “NATO appeals to providers of means, not to nations. It appealed to a flight company which provides the necessary transport capacity and which happens to be Ukrainian. There's no political sign behind this. It's simply business and nothing else,” he says.

This might be the first time that someone called the Ukrainian government a flight company. But General Py rushes to challenge this observation: “No, no, we don't deal with the Ukrainian government! It's just a private company...”

Understanding the Afghan security jargon

• What?
  The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is mandated under Chapter VII of the United Nations (UN) Charter (Peace Enforcing) by UN Security Resolutions 1386, 1413 and 1444. Under the UN mandate, the role of ISAF is to assist in the maintenance of security to help the Afghan Transitional Authority and the UN in Kabul and its environs. It also aims at improving the capability of Afghan police and armed forces.
• How many?
  More than 8,000 soldiers, sailors and airmen make up ISAF, with contributions from 36 nations.
• Who?
  Nations supporting the ISAF mission are: Albania, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States of America.

Dan Alexe is a freelance journalist.

Article reports on the situation in Afghanistan where the Eurocorps troops were running ISAF in the NATO framework at the time of the Presidential elections in October 2004.