The Hindu : U.S. move welcomed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Sep 01, 2002

International

International

U.S. move welcomed

New York Aug. 31. Human Rights Watch on Friday welcomed a statement by a senior U.S. Defence Department official that the Bush administration had dropped its opposition to expanding international peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan.

Human Rights Watch called on the United States to immediately begin discussions with other members of the U.N. Security Council to approve an expansion of the peacekeeping mandate in Afghanistan.

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), a peacekeeping force of 19 states currently under Turkish command, has been confined to providing security within Kabul. In an August 27 interview with a London newspaper (The Daily Telegraph), the Deputy Defence Secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, said the U.S. would no longer oppose the expansion of ISAF to other areas in Afghanistan.

Human Rights Watch confirmed with administration officials in Washington D.C. that American policy had indeed shifted, though a decision to pro-actively seek ISAF expansion had not yet been made.

"The Bush administration has finally acknowledged that the scope of ISAF should be expanded," said Mike Jendrzejczyk, Washington director of the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch. "But the administration should now take the lead to act."

The Afghan President, Hamid Karzai and many Afghans have repeatedly called for ISAF expansion.

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