Afghanistan International Security Force Extended

The United Nations Security Council members have voted to extend the presence of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in the Central Asian nation of Afghanistan, calling upon U.N. member states to provide funding, personnel, and equipment to be supplied to the force. Russia objected to some specific text in the resolution.

According to a press release issued by the United Nations on Thursday, fourteen Security Council members voted to extend the force's presence in Afghanistan, while Russia abstained from voting. The force is led by NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization), and was created in 2001 after the U.S. military overthrew Afghanistan's Taliban government. The importance of improving the nation's own security forces and training the Afghan police was emphasized. The force is intended to curtail increasing terrorism and violence taking place in Afghanistan.

However, the press release indicates that Russia's ambassador to the U.N. stated that he supports extending of the presence of the force, but couldn't support text in the resolution regarding "maritime interception." He stated that this text was unclear and did not appear in previous resolutions on Afghanistan, saying that such interception should only be used if it applies to terrorism occurring in Afghanistan. He also complained that there was "undue haste" in passing the resolution, although the ISAF's authorization would not have expired until next month.

According to the U.N. Security Council website, the other fourteen members (who approved the ISAF extension) include the United States, United Kingdom, China, France, Belgium, Qatar, the Republic of the Congo, Indonesia, Ghana, Panama, Peru, Italy, South Africa, and Slovakia. The presidency of the Security Council is currently held by France.

Conflict continues to take many lives in Afghanistan. A news story from IRIN (Integrated Regional Information Networks; part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) on Thursday quoted the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission that about one-hundred and sixty-eight civilians died in conflict (including such violence as suicide bombings, explosions, and bombardment from the air) in August, and about twenty-four fewer died in July.

Wikipedia.org indicates that Afghanistan has experienced many wars during the past few decades and is among the world's poorest nations. It also states that more than six different languages are spoken by people who live there, while nearly one-hundred percent are Muslims. It is bordered by several other countries, with Pakistan along most of its eastern border.

Sources:

1. United Nations, http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=23887
2. United Nations Security Council, http://www.un.org/sc/members.asp, http://www.un.org/sc/presidency.asp
3. IRIN, http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74396
4. Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghanistan