Afghanistan: on the road to recovery.

AuthorRutsch, Horst

War-ravaged, drought-stricken and impoverished, Afghanistan has in the past months witnessed momentous historic changes. When five years of Taliban rule ended last year, it opened an unprecedented window of opportunity for peace and prosperity in the region. Yet, after decades of interminable instability, the challenges facing the country are daunting and still fraught with danger. The Afghan people, exhausted by armed conflicts that threatened the very existence of their nation, need the sustained support of the international community to successfully pursue the road to recovery. In assembling and coordinating that integrated assistance, the United Nations has been given a central role to play.

The structure of a future UN mission in Afghanistan has not yet been finalized. However, the United Nations and the various agencies in the field are close to a consensus on its configuration. Briefing the Security council on 6 February, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, confirmed that an integrated mission that would operate with a "light footprint" was envisioned, giving Afghan institutions as much of a role as possible. The Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Mark Malloch Brown, is leading the early recovery effort, under the overall coordination of Mr. Brahimi. The recently appointed Deputy Special Representative for Humanitarian and Reconstruction Affairs, Nigel Fisher, is expected to play an important role in bringing together the different parts of the United Nations system engaged in relief, reconstruction and recovery work, and in ensuring that the agencies work in tandem with the Afghan authorities.

Besides working for peace, the United Nations has for years sought to provide humanitarian relief to the Afghan people and mobilize resources for the rehabilitation of the country. In response to the Soviet invasion, the General Assembly in January 1980 held a special emergency session on Afghanistan and adopted the first of a series of resolutions, calling for the withdrawal of all foreign forces and asking States to contribute humanitarian assistance. In 1988, the Secretary-General set up a "good offices mission" to monitor the withdrawal of Soviet troops and help Afghans find peace. The Assembly in 1992 welcomed the establishment of an Islamic State in Afghanistan and sought assistance for an emergency trust fund to support the country's rehabilitation. However, subsequent hostilities among rival warlords and escalating religious, ethnic and tribal strife led to the breakdown of government authority, paving the way for the Taliban regime in 1996 to gain control over 90 per cent of the territory.

When in the following years reports of drug trafficking, the export of terrorism and grave human rights abuses under the Taliban rule mounted, the Security Council imposed sanctions against the regime, in resolutions 1267 (1999) and 1333 (2000), which included financial measures and embargoes on arms and travel. On 30 July 2001, adopting resolution 1363 (2001), the Council set up a mechanism to monitor the sanctions. In response to the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, the United States and its allies on 7 October launched an assault on the Al Qaeda organization based in Afghanistan, leading to the disintegration of Taliban control over most of the country.

On 13 November, Mr. Brahimi presented a plan to resolve the crisis and rebuild the country, based on input from the Afghans themselves. Supporting the proposal, in resolution 1378 (2001), the Security Council on 14 November also gave Mr. Brahimi overall authority for United Nations humanitarian, human rights and political activities in Afghanistan.

On 6 December, in resolution 1383 (2001), the Council endorsed an agreement signed by the Northern Alliance and other Afghan groups, after nine days of UN-sponsored talks in Bonn, Germany, which named Hamid Karzai as provisional head of Afghanistan. That day, with the fall of Kandahar, the Taliban regime collapsed. Coming into force on 22 December, the Bonn Agreement laid down a temporary political...

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