Britain to organize new Afghan security force

Britain has accepted the task of leading and organizing a multinational force for Afghanistan, which the U.N. Security Council is expected to approve by Friday, U.S. diplomats said Monday.

Nevertheless, U.N. officials are worried that the NATO nations, who are to form the core of the force, may not deploy troops by Dec. 22, when a new interim government is to take office in Kabul.

Formation of the force has been delayed because no country quickly offered to take the lead, with both Britain and Germany hesitating at first. But Britain has now assumed the role, at least for a few months, and troops contributors are expected to meet in London next week to decide the shape of the new force, diplomats said.

The task was also slowed down by the reluctance of the U.S. military to have a parallel operation in Afghanistan during its war against the terrorism.

"It would be desirable if this thing was starting to move at the time the government set up on December 22," U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said over the weekend in Uzbekistan. "I just don't know if it'll go that fast."

The United Nations succeeded in brokering an agreement last Wednesday among anti-Taliban Afghans that calls for an interim authority to govern the war-devastated country for six months from Dec. 22. The exiled former king then would convene a traditional assembly, or Loya Jirga, to approve a transitional government. Elections are scheduled in two years.

One key factor in the Bonn accord is a request to the U.N. Security Council to authorize an international force that would provide protection in and around the capital, Kabul, at the beginning and then expand to other cities.

The U.N. Security Council, which has already approved the Bonn accord, is to mandate but not organize the force, which will be Britain's task. Other countries expected to join are NATO members Turkey, France, Canada and Italy.

Some Jordanian troops are already on the ground with the French guarding the airport at Mazar-i-Sharif and Bangladesh and Indonesia have expressed an interest, providing funds are raised to being their troops to Afghanistan.

Lakhdar Brahimi, the chief U.N. envoy for Afghanistan, weeks ago excluded any all-Muslim force as some U.S. officials had suggested, saying they would be regarded as foreigners as much as any other group of countries.

A U.N. peacekeeping force was also ruled out, with officials saying it would take too long to organize and would include too many troops who had never worked with each other.

At this point, the United States has no intention of joining the new force, although Europeans hope it will do so in the future. The U.S. Central Command, led by Gen. Tommy Franks has had misgivings about another group of troops on the ground during its military campaign against the Taliban and the al-Qaeda network headed by Osama bin Laden,

But the U.S. military is said to be on board now for Afghanistan to host two separate foreign forces, one security force intened to reinforce peace, and the American and British militaries still prosecuting war.

However, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has warned that the two militaries should not overlap. "There must be a clear separation between the current deployment against the Taliban and U.N. troops to support the accord," he said.

What exactly the new force will do is still under discussion. In Kabul, the Northern Alliance troops took over the capital. One purpose was to make sure no one military faction dominated in Kabul, but how this would be achieved is uncertain.