Afghanistan and the international community

The international community is committed to supporting Afghanistan’s recovery, so that it takes its place again in its regional and international context. The Bonn process was successfully completed. However, the country has not yet definitively stabilized. A new agreement, called the “Pact for Afghanistan” (adopted on 31 January 2006 in London and endorsed by UNSCOM resolution 1659), establishes the outlines of the cooperation between Afghanistan and the international community for the period 2006-2010.

a. The international and French military presence in Afghanistan

The security situation has deteriorated since spring 2005, with, in particular, the number of suicide attacks increasing rapidly and especially intense fighting in the southern and eastern parts of the country since spring 2006. Altogether, close to 6,000 people (including insurgent forces killed during attacks) - mainly Afghans - died as a result of the violence in 2007, compared with 4,000 in 2006 and 1,600 in 2005.

Several political figures have been assassinated, such as the governor of the Paktia province, Mr. Abdul Hakim Taniwal (10 September 2006).

This deterioration in the security situation is especially the result of a radicalization of extremist movements, which, defeated militarily by the allied forces in Afghanistan (which have always been victorious in the face of offensives launched by the insurgents, but sometimes at the cost of civilian victims among the population present at the site of the fighting), are resorting more and more often to attacks (growing use of improvised explosive devices and suicide attacks), as well as abductions, and are thereby trying to undermine the actions of the international community, by banking on the declining support it may have with the Afghan people as well as public opinion in the West.

This situation explains why approximately 47,000 foreign soldiers from 40 countries and members of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) are still in Afghanistan. More than a third of this force is made up of American soldiers (18,000). Initially deployed in Kabul and the surrounding area, the ISAF now covers all of Afghanistan. The deployment of the ISAF in the provinces relies on military bases and Provincial Reconstruction Teams(PRT), which are often multinational, civilian-military reconstruction teams. There are 25 of them at the present time.

The ISAF was created by the United Nations Security Council in December 2001. Its role is to help the Afghan government to ensure a secure environment, including in the provinces, which makes it possible for civilian efforts to rebuild and develop the country to meet with success. NATO has commanded the ISAF since August 2003. An American, General Dan Mac Neill, currently commands the force.

At the same time as the ISAF, operations conducted in the context of the anti-terrorism coalition, Enduring Freedom (about 17,000 men, Americans for the most part) are continuing. They entail hunting what’s left of Al Qaeda and allied movements on the basis of article 51 of the United Nations Charter (right of self defence).

France is the seventh-leading contributor to the ISAF, with a contingent of nearly 1,700 men. It commanded the ISAF from August 2004 to February 2005, in the context of the European Corps. It led the one in Kabul province from August 2006 to April 2007. It is currently assisting Turkey, which succeeded it in this role for eight months. Fourteen French soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since the start of the operations.

During the NATO Summit in Riga (November 2006), we announced:
 the authorization for our troops to intervene outside Kabul selectively to help allies in trouble;
 the deployment of an Afghan-OMLT (Operational Mentor and Liaison Team) army team (50 men), integrated since this past May in the 201st Afghan army corps (Kabul and neighbouring provinces) and that supports Afghans in combat;
 the temporary reinforcement of our air support system. In spring 2007, three additional Rafale fighter jets were deployed and the naval aviation group, Charles de Gaulle (25 fighter planes), intervened in two missions from the Arabian Sea.

During the G8 Summit in Heiligendamm (6-8 June 2007), we announced the deployment of three additional OMLTs (150 mean). One of these OMLTs has been deployed since the beginning of November 2007.

During the second half of 2007:
 we announced the redeployment of our six fighter planes, from Tajikistan to Kandahar, at the heart of operations. This has been completed since the end of October;
 during the Blaesheim of 10 September 2007, the French President and Ms. Merkel announced a bilateral cooperation for the training of the Afghan National Army. This cooperation is expected to take the form of the creation of a logistical military school for the Afghan army;
 during the informal meeting of NATO defence ministers in Noordwijk (24-25 October 2007), we announced the deployment, in 2008, of a fifth OMLT (approximately 70 people) in support of the Dutch contingent in the southern province of Orozgan.

Eventually, Afghan forces will have to take over from the foreign forces. This is the aim of the actions of the G8 countries in terms of reforming the security sector in Afghanistan. Accordingly, the Afghan National Army (ANA), which is trained mainly by the United States, should have 80,000 soldiers in 2010 (50,000 to date). Under Japan’s authority, the process of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) of some 60,000 militiamen registered with the Defence Ministry has been successfully completed. A new process, called DIAG (Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups), was officially launched during the Tokyo Conference on 5 July 2006. It must make it possible to disarm 30,000 more people. Germany is coordinating the training of a national police force that officially has about 65,000 men, which is more than the goal set in London for 2010 (62,000). The United Kingdom is a key partner in the area of drug control, and Italy is a key partner for the reform of the justice system.

The Summit in Bucharest (2-4 April 2008) gave the allies the opportunity to have an in-depth debate on the conditions for the success of the international involvement in Afghanistan and to adopt a new politico-military strategic plan for the Alliance in Afghanistan. The strategy adopted is a faithful reflection of the criteria for success defined by the French President: common determination of the allies to remain involved for the duration, military effort in line with a global reconstruction assistance policy, a clear perspective in terms of the progressive transfer of responsibilities to the Afghans, a shared political strategy for Afghanistan, involving neighbouring Pakistan. In the context of this renewed strategy, the French President announced that 700 more soldiers would be sent to the east.

It can also be noted that this past 20 March, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 1806, extending the mandate of UNAMA (United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan). In particular, the new mandate tasks UNAMA and its Special Representative, Mr. Kai Eide, appointed this past 7 March by the United Nations Secretary-General, with coordinating civilian aid and civilian and military actions. Resolution 1806 also calls for a mid-term review to take into account the results of the International Conference in Support of Afghanistan held in Paris on 12 June 2008, and to enable the new Special Representative to suggest ways to strengthen the United Nations’ role in Afghanistan.

b. International assistance for reconstruction

During the Tokyo Conference (January 2002), announcements for contributions for humanitarian and reconstruction assistance for Afghanistan reached 1.8 billion dollars for the year underway and 4.5 billion dollars in the medium term. Hosted in Berlin on 31 March and 1 April 2004, another international conference on Afghanistan reported promised aid totalling 8.2 billion dollars through 2006. The London conference held on 31 January 2006 made it possible to mobilize new bilateral and multilateral financing of 10.5 billion dollars over five years. With annual bilateral and community commitments totalling more than 800 million euros, the European Union is the second-leading contributor to Afghanistan’s recovery, after the United States.

At the request of the Afghan government, on 12 June 2008, France is hosting an international conference in support of Afghanistan. Both a meeting of donors and an exercise in political positioning, this conference has the following main objectives:

- to reaffirm the international community’s long-term commitment to the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan;

 to promote better coordination between the various partners, by making the most of the conference to enable the new UNSG Special Representative, Mr. Kai Eide, to confirm the role of the United Nations in Afghanistan;

 to tighten and rebalance the strategy implemented around priority and realistic objectives, identified on the basis of a status report on the implementation of the Pact for Afghanistan adopted in London in January 2006;

 to encourage new financial contributions from international lenders, intended to make it possible to implement the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS).

So, this international conference in support of Afghanistan aims to reinforce the progressive transfer of responsibilities to the Afghans (“Afghanisation” of the decision-making processes) and to reinforce aid efficiency (questions about the Afghan government’s absorptive capacities, the lack of direct budgetary assistance, the role of intermediaries and provincial reconstruction teams, difficulties caused by the lack of harmonization in terms of donors’ conditionalities).

This conference must also make it possible to offer a more balanced view of the complex realities of Afghanistan today, in order to explain the direction of the international commitment and to take advantage of the progress and success since 2001 in terms of reconstruction and development (democracy taking root and the reconstruction of the State, major progress in the areas of education and health, rehabilitation of infrastructures, economic recovery).

c. Afghanistan in the international arena

The reinforcement of regional cooperation and the maintenance of strong international - and Western, in particular - commitment are the two priorities of Afghanistan’s foreign policy. Afghanistan has opened diplomatic or consular missions in more than 80 countries.

The agreement on good-neighbourly relations signed in Kabul on 22 December 2002 between Afghanistan and the six neighbouring countries is meant to promote relationships of trust in the region. For various reasons, all of Afghanistan’s neighbours have an objective interest in its stability today. The fight against drug trafficking and terrorism are priorities for most of them.

Relations with Pakistan are going through a delicate phase. The wave of suicide attacks and other security incidents that have hit Afghanistan since 2005 have resulted in a continuous deterioration in the relations between the two countries. Afghanistan attributes the deterioration of its security situation to terrorist infiltrations from Pakistan. Pakistan denies any responsibility, arguing the profound change in its Afghan policy since 11 September 2001 and the efforts it has made to fight terrorism (80,000 soldiers stationed in tribal areas, more than 600 soldiers killed). Moreover, Islamabad points out its support for Afghan resistance fighters against the Soviet Union and the fact that it has taken in more than two million refugees to date, whom Pakistanis demand be repatriated.

To a large extent, this context explains the deterioration in the relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan, which in 2006 reached their lowest point since the fall of the Taliban. Several countries have tried to bring Kabul and Islamabad together. In August 2007, this desire for rapprochement led to a big Jirga on cross-border peace between the two countries, which will have made it possible to establish the bilateral dialogue within a structured framework, and, for Kabul and Islamabad, to publicly demonstrate their awareness of needing to fight against the common challenge of terrorism.

During the second half of 2007, relations between the two countries warmed up a little, and timid efforts were made to make improved bilateral cooperation a reality. Pakistan’s growing instability since the declaration of a state of emergency on 3 November and after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto has run the risk of undermining these fragile achievements, by limiting the availability of the governments of the two countries to continue strengthening their cooperation and by threatening increased destabilization of the entire region.

If it focuses on a genuine return of democracy in the country, the new period beginning in Pakistan after the legislative elections were held might make it possible to improve the relations between the two countries significantly.

NB: Afghanistan does not recognize the Durand Line, the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan established in 1893.

Iran and Afghanistan maintain constructive relations and are trying to develop their trade. The fight against drug trafficking, a scourge in Iran, and the increase in the large Shiite minority in Afghanistan are Teheran’s two priorities. 880,000 Afghan refugees are still living in Iran. Kabul is anxious to calm the relations between Teheran and Western countries.

The countries of central Asia and Russia maintain more distant relations with Kabul Their priorities include the fight against drug trafficking, terrorism and religious extremism. The northern part of Afghanistan is home to large Turk-speaking (Uzbeks and Turkmen) and Tajik minorities.

Traditionally, India has cultivated close relations with Kabul and provides it with a considerable amount of diversified aid. President Karzai, who completed some of his studies in India, took part in the regional economic cooperation conference held in New Delhi (18-19 November 2006).

Outside its region, Afghanistan has developed its relations with donor countries mainly, primarily with the United States and member countries of the European Union and NATO. During Hamed Karzai’s visit to Washington on 23 May 2005, Afghanistan signed a strategic partnership agreement with the United States. This past 1 March, President George W. Bush made the first visit of an American president since 1959. From 17 to 27 September 2006, President Karzai made his longest visit to the United States. Relations with certain EU and NATO countries (Germany, France, Italy, United Kingdom, Turkey) are close and longstanding.

Afghanistan is part of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the Economic Cooperation Organization (Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, Azerbaijan, the former Soviet Republics of Central Asia), and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). It is an Asian partner of the OSCE and an observer at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Hamed Karzai was China’s guest of honour at the SCO summit in Shanghai (15 June 2006). He would like his country to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) and is seeking a special partnership with NATO (a joint declaration on a sustainable partnership cooperation framework was signed on 6 September 2006) and the European Union (a joint political declaration was signed in Strasbourg on 16 November 2005).

Updated on 09.05.07