Afghanistan and UN, A Historical Perspective

Afghanistan, a mountainous country of approximately 652,000 square kilometers, shares borders with China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and a sector of the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir that is controlled by Pakistan. About half its territory is more than 2,000 meters above sea level.

In 2000, the United Nations Population Fund estimated the population of Afghanistan at some 22.7 million (the most recent census was in 1979, when the population was reported to be about 15.5 million). The major languages are Pashto and Dari/Farsi.

Modern history
An Afghan state began to emerge in the late eighteenth century, although only beginning in the mid-nineteenth century did the name Afghanistan come to be applied to the incipient nation. It was ruled, with brief interruptions, by a succession of monarchs whose consolidation of power was persistently undermined by civil wars and foreign invasions.

The current borders of Afghanistan were delineated in the nineteenth century, as a result of the "great game" rivalry between Russia and Britain; there was no Afghan state involvement in drawing the borders. Britain exerted some influence over Afghan foreign policy from the late nineteenth century until the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919.

Afghanistan joined the United Nations in 1946.

In 1973, King Zahir Shah was overthrown in a coup by his cousin and former Prime Minister, Muhammad Daud. Daud declared Afghanistan a republic, with himself as president, and the King went into exile in Italy.

Daud's government faced opposition from both the leftist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) and traditional ethnic leaders. In April 1978, leftist military officers overthrew and killed Daud, and PDPA leader Noor Muhammad Taraki became President.

Late in 1978, Islamic traditionalists and ethnic leaders began an armed revolt, and by the summer of 1979 they controlled much of rural Afghanistan. In September, Taraki was deposed and later killed. He was replaced by his deputy, Hafizullah Amin, who also failed to suppress the rebellion, and the government's position weakened. On 25 December 1979, Soviet forces entered Afghanistan and took control of Kabul. Babrak Karmal, leader of a less hard-line faction of the PDPA, became President. Karmal adopted more open policies toward religion and ethnicity, but the rebellion intensified.

1980s
Early in 1980, the Security Council met to consider a response to the Soviet intervention. A draft resolution condemning the intervention was struck down, however, by the negative vote of the USSR.

The matter was then taken up in the General Assembly, which held an Emergency Special Session on Afghanistan from 10 to 14 January 1980. The Assembly adopted the first of a series of “Situation in Afghanistan” resolutions (resolution ES-6/2), in which it deplored the armed intervention in Afghanistan, called for the withdrawal of all foreign forces, asked states to contribute humanitarian assistance, and asked the Secretary-General to keep the Assembly informed of developments.

Various overtures to the concerned parties were made in an effort to cease the conflict, but war continued, with devastating effects. During the next few years, about 3 million refugees fled to Pakistan and 1.5 million to Iran, and many people were driven from the countryside to Kabul; in total, more than half the population was displaced. Estimates of combat fatalities range between 700,000 and 1.3 million.

With the school system largely destroyed, industrialization severely restricted and large irrigation projects badly damaged, the economy of the country was crippled.

The Assembly maintained its focus on Afghanistan throughout the 1980s, adopting a series of resolutions that called for an end to the conflict, withdrawal of foreign troops, UN assistance to find a political settlement, and international assistance for refugees and others affected by the conflict (see resolutions).

Following the first report of a newly appointed Special Rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, the General Assembly in 1985 also began a separate consideration of the human rights situation. The first in what was to become an annual resolution on human rights and fundamental freedoms in Afghanistan (resolution 40/137) was adopted on 13 December. The Assembly expressed concern at widespread disregard for human rights and large-scale violations, as well as the severe consequences for the civilian population of indiscriminate bombardments and military operations aimed primarily at villages and agricultural structures.

In May 1986, Karmal was replaced as PDPA leader by Mohammad Najibullah, who subsequently became President in November 1987.

Under the auspices of the United Nations, in May 1987 Afghanistan, Pakistan, the USSR and the United States signed Agreements on the Settlement of the Situation Relating to Afghanistan. These provided for an end to foreign intervention in Afghanistan, and the USSR began withdrawing its forces. With the Security Council's authorization in resolution 622 (1988) of 31 October 1988, Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar set up a mission to monitor the withdrawal of foreign forces – the United Nations Good Offices Mission in Afghanistan and Pakistan (UNGOMAP) – and made plans to support the anticipated repatriation of refugees. The Soviet withdrawal was completed in February 1989. The rebels who had not signed the agreements, however, continued fighting against Najibullah's government, and the civil war carried on.

Following the May 1987 agreement, the UN began strenuous efforts to coordinate humanitarian assistance. Afghanistan had long been designated by the UN as one of the world's least developed countries, and war only made it more difficult to respond to the challenge of reconstruction and development. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated that the area under agricultural cultivation in Afghanistan fell 40 per cent between 1979 and 1991.

In 1989, under the guidance of the Secretary-General's newly appointed Coordinator for United Nations Humanitarian and Economic Assistance Programs, a plan of action was developed jointly by United Nations agencies and programs, including the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UN Development Program (UNDP), the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Food Program (WFP).

1990s
In 1991, responsibility for Operation Salam, the UN's emergency relief program for Afghanistan, was taken over by the Secretary-General's Personal Representative, Benon Sevan. That year, WFP provided 60,000 metric tons of food to needy Afghans, while FAO provided 6,800 tons of seed and more than half a million fruit and poplar saplings.

Agricultural assistance, food aid, public and maternal health services and economic recovery programs were initiated with resources provided to the United Nations by the international community. But other programs that had been planned – to repair infrastructure, provide shelter and discourage narcotics production – lacked sufficient funding to proceed.

As civil war between various factions continued following the Soviet withdrawal, the number of civilians fleeing the country increased steadily, and Afghanistan suffered the world's leading refugee crisis. By 1990, there were 6.3 million civilians in exile – 3.3 million in Pakistan and 3 million in Iran. In addition to setting up a voluntary repatriation project, UNHCR established more than 300 villages in Pakistan for the mainly ethnic Pashtun refugees. In Iran, the mostly ethnic Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras lived and found work in local communities.

Fighting intensified in 1992 and made the aid effort more difficult. Rebel forces closed in on Kabul and the Najibullah government collapsed. On 24 April 1992, the Peshawar Accord brought the agreement of leaders of the mujaheddin (guerilla) forces – except one, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar – to form a government under Sigbatullah Mojaddedi. According to the agreement, Mojaddedi would head a Transitional Council for two months. He would then be replaced by a Leadership Council to last four months that would be headed by Burhannudin Rabbani.

Rabbani was declared President of the Islamic State in Afghanistan in July 1992. Under the Accord, he was to have relinquished power in October, but he didn't. By that time, Ahmad Shah Massoud, Rabbani’s Minister of Defense, was engaged in armed confrontation with Hekmatyar in Kabul, which had largely been spared destruction during the Soviet occupation.

The General Assembly's annual assessment of the situation – summarized in a resolution on emergency international assistance for the reconstruction of Afghanistan (resolution 47/119 of 18 December 1992) – noted that establishment of the Islamic State provided a new opportunity for reconstruction, welcomed the Secretary-General's efforts to draw attention to mobilizing assistance for rehabilitation and reconstruction, and sought funds for an emergency trust fund to support the rehabilitation.

In 1993, two peace accords – in Islamabad on 7 March and Jalalabad on 18 May – were negotiated between President Rabbani and eight other Afghan leaders. The parties agreed to form a government for 18 months, to set in motion an electoral process, to formulate a constitution, and to establish a defense council to set up a national army. In his annual report issued in September, the Secretary-General observed that although the accords were encouraging, they had neither resolved the problems of the government nor removed the threat of renewed fighting around Kabul.

In December 1993, at the request of the General Assembly, the Secretary-General established the United Nations Special Mission to Afghanistan (UNSMA) to canvass a broad spectrum of Afghan leaders for their views on how the UN could best help with national reconciliation and reconstruction. Meanwhile, the movement of civilians conformed to the ebb and flow of battlefield realities, with many refugees having returned to peaceful parts of the country. In 1992, more than 1.2 million had returned home from Pakistan.

Despite these positive developments, Kabul was soon besieged again: first by various mujaheddin factions, and then by the Taliban, a movement with its foundations in Kandahar. The Taliban were largely sons and orphans of mujaheddin, raised in refugee camps in Pakistan. The movement initially gained momentum as an opposition to the mujaheddin, whom the Taliban came to regard as having corrupted Afghan society.

Fighting in Kabul led once more to the displacement of populations, with some 350,000 people fleeing the Kabul region for camps near Jalalabad, bringing the total of internally displaced people dependent on the UN for food and sustenance to 800,000. By 1994, there were an additional 700,000 Afghan refugees, living mostly in camps in Pakistan and Iran.

1994 saw the launch of the first in a series of annual consolidated appeals to aid Afghanistan. The appeals detailed the emergency needs of Afghan people and sought funds to enable non-governmental and UN agencies to address those needs. The first appeal had some success, with donors supplying 75 per cent of the funds requested. Rehabilitation projects focused on human development and poverty alleviation in rural communities. High quality seed was distributed to farmers, yielding some 80,000 tons of grain, while some 125,000 hectares of land were irrigated and over 8,000 hectares of orchards rehabilitated.

From 1995, however, the annual appeals were less successful in raising the necessary funds. The 1995-1996 appeal, for example, raised only 50 per cent of the amount deemed urgent, of which practically nothing was available for crucial infrastructure repairs. The absence of conflict in some parts of the country nonetheless made it possible to reopen some roads and allowed increased aid distribution by the UN and other agencies.

From January to June 1995, WFP distributed more than 53,000 tons of food aid, while the UN Center for Human Settlements helped some 10,000 families rebuild their homes. During a health campaign in 1995, nearly 2.4 million children under five years of age were immunized against polio and more than 80,000 under two years old were inoculated against measles.

Late 1990s - The Taliban takes Kabul
In late 1994 and early 1995, the Taliban continued to grow in strength, and they took control of much of southern and western Afghanistan, including Kandahar and Herat. In a presidential statement on 15 February 1996, the Security Council expressed concern at intensified hostilities around Kabul and the consequent prevention of aid delivery. It was also deeply concerned that the continuing conflict provided fertile ground for terrorism, arms transfers and drug trafficking, which destabilized the whole region and beyond.

In September 1996, the Taliban took Kabul. The government relocated to Taloqan and Mazar-i-Sharif and formed a new coalition including Hekmatyar, the United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan (the United Front).

On 22 October, the Security Council adopted resolution 1076 (1996), calling on all Afghan parties to end hostilities and engage in a political dialogue aimed at achieving national reconciliation. It repeated its concern that the conflict provided fertile ground for terrorism and drug trafficking and called on the parties to halt these activities. The General Assembly, along with the Council, condemned the abduction from United Nations premises in Kabul of former President Najibullah and his brother on 26 September, and their subsequent brutal execution by the Taliban (Assembly resolution 51/108, Council statement S/PRST/1996/40). Najibullah had taken refuge there four years earlier, but repeated calls by the Secretary-General to allow his safe departure from the country had been ignored.

Fighting between the Taliban and Northern Alliance groups continued between 1997 and 2000 with little change in military positions. In July of 1997, the Secretary-General appointed Lakhdar Brahimi, former Foreign Minister of Algeria, as his Special Envoy for Afghanistan, to consult with interested and relevant countries and parties to make recommendations on UN peacemaking activities there. He visited Afghanistan as part of a 13-nation tour and in October, with the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, convened a series of informal meetings with what became known as the "Six plus Two" group, comprising the six states bordering Afghanistan (China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) plus the United States and Russia.

In April 1998, through a presidential statement, the Security Council noted the increasingly ethnic nature of the conflict and reports of ethnicity-based persecution. It also deplored the continued supply of war-making materials to the factions from foreign sources, warning that a resumption of large-scale fighting would seriously undermine efforts toward a political solution. In July, the Council raised concerns at reports of harassment of humanitarian organizations and a decision by the Taliban to insist on the relocation of all humanitarian organizations' offices to a single location in Kabul. It also expressed deep concern at continuing discrimination against girls and women.

In July and August, the Taliban movement, in its third offensive, overran many northern provinces, as well as the cities of Mazar-i-Sharif and Taloqan, where the government had relocated. A major massacre of thousands of civilians took place in Mazar after the Taliban took the city.

Following the 7 August terrorist bomb attacks on United States embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, which claimed hundreds of lives, the Council adopted resolution 1193 (1998) on 28 August, which repeated its concern at the continuing presence of terrorists in the territory of Afghanistan. It condemned attacks on UN personnel in Taliban-held areas, including the killing of two Afghan staff members of the World Food Program and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Jalalabad, and of the Military Adviser to UNSMA in Kabul. It also condemned the capture of the Consulate-General of Iran in Mazar-i-Sharif. On 8 December, by resolution 1214 (1998), the Council demanded that the Taliban stop providing sanctuary and training for international terrorists and their organizations and that all Afghan factions cooperate in bringing indicted terrorists to justice.

On 15 October 1999, citing the failure of the Taliban to respond to this demand, the Council applied broad sanctions under the enforcement provisions of the UN Charter. In resolution 1267 (1999), it noted that Usama bin Laden had been indicted by the United States for the August 1998 embassy bombings and demanded that the Taliban faction – never recognized as Afghanistan's legitimate government – turn him over to the appropriate authorities to be brought to justice. The sanctions, imposed on 14 November following non-compliance, included the freezing by states of all funds and other financial resources owned or controlled by the Taliban.

In a statement on 22 October, the Security Council also expressed profound distress over reports of involvement in the fighting, on the Taliban side, of thousands of non-Afghan nationals, some of whom were below the age of 14. It expressed grave concern at the seriously deteriorating humanitarian situation and deplored the worsening human rights situation – including forced displacements of civilian populations, summary executions, abuse and arbitrary detention of civilians, violence against women and girls, and indiscriminate bombing. The capture of Iran's Consulate-General in Mazar-i-Sharif, along with the murder there of Iranian diplomats and a journalist, were described as flagrant violations of international law. Deeply disturbed by a significant increase in the cultivation, production and trafficking of drugs, especially in Taliban-controlled areas, it demanded that such illegal activities be halted.

By the late 1990s, Afghanistan had become notorious as the source of nearly 80 per cent of the world's illicit opium, with nearly 1 per cent of its total arable land – some 640 square kilometers – devoted to poppy growing. In response, the UN Drug Control Program (UNDCP) established a poppy crop reduction project, as part of which it introduced alternative crops, rehabilitated irrigation systems and improved roads. It worked with the Taliban with some success, and in December 2000 noted that the Taliban had banned opium production, although the Security Council sanctions made it difficult to institute alternate crop development projects.

Already suffering the devastating effects of civil war, in the late 1990s the people of Afghanistan also faced a series of natural disasters – starting with earthquakes in February and May 1998 that killed more than 7,000 and affected the livelihoods and shelter of a further 165,000. In June, some 6,000 people were killed in severe flooding. Also at that time, a severe and protracted drought began – the worst in living memory – that brought further suffering to some 2.5 million people already living on the edge of survival.

2000 – 11 September 2001
The conflict in Afghanistan continued unabated through 2000 and 2001. During this period, the international aid community, including the United Nations, tried with varying levels of success to ensure that the victims of the war and turmoil – ordinary Afghans trying to live their lives – received at least the minimum needed for survival. Political and security problems, in the absence of an effective government, caused frequent interruptions in the flow of humanitarian assistance, and various crises required temporary departures of UN and non-governmental aid workers.

In the face of such a daunting situation, the UN redoubled its efforts, delivering more than 94,000 tons of food aid to 1.13 million people in 2000 alone, while vaccinating some 5.3 million children against polio and providing support for non-discriminatory education to more than 300,000 children – including home schooling projects for girls.

Nevertheless, one quarter of all children born in Afghanistan were dying of preventable diseases before the age of five. Afghan women were nearly five times more likely to die in childbirth than in other developing countries. Typhoid and cholera epidemics were rampant, and pneumonia and malaria had re-emerged as public health threats. The condition of women had deteriorated markedly, and only one in 20 girls received any kind of education.

Between 1988 and 2000, more than 4.6 million Afghan refugees returned to their homes with UNHCR assistance, but as the fighting continued they were soon replaced by new refugees, themselves in need of clothing and housing from UNHCR and their host countries. All told, by the end of 2001 UNHCR had spent at least USD 1.2 billion for refugee operations in Pakistan, USD 352 million in Iran, and USD 72 million inside Afghanistan. At that point, some 2 million refugees remained in Pakistan and 1.5 million in Iran.

To compound the problem, refugees were returning to what the UN Mine Clearance Program has called the most heavily mined country in the world, with a staggering 9.7 million land mines. As part of its efforts, the program cleared some 68 square kilometers of previously affected areas, but obviously much remained to be done.

In 2000, as in previous years, the vast majority of funding for the UN-coordinated appeals for Afghanistan was earmarked by donors for emergency relief – notably food aid by WFP. Funds to promote Afghan self-sufficiency remained in short supply, with only USD 6 million being received for projects to increase access to sustainable livelihoods. Programs to promote agricultural development – a particularly acute area of need given the drought – were almost nonexistent.

On 4 September 2001, the UN and its partners issued a report entitled "The Deepening Crisis", which highlighted the desperate and worsening humanitarian situation faced by Afghans across the country. The report contained a plan of action to support critically vulnerable Afghans during the upcoming winter period and beyond, identifying the needs of 5 million people severely affected by three years of drought and many years of fighting. The plan envisaged the providing of food aid, shelter for internally displaced people, and support to help people remain in their own homes instead of adding to the numbers of those displaced.

Post 11 September 2001
In the escalation of the conflict in Afghanistan following the 11 September terrorist attack on the United States by the Afghan-based Al Qaida group, the Security Council expressed support for the efforts of the Afghan people to replace the Taliban regime, once again condemned for allowing Afghanistan to be used as a base for the export of terrorism and for providing safe haven to Usama bin Laden.

On 1 October, in his address to a special week-long session of the General Assembly on terrorism, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said, "As we summon the will and the resources needed to succeed in the struggle against terrorism, we must also care for all the victims of terrorism, whether they are the direct targets or other populations who will be affected by our common effort. That is why I have launched an alert to donors about the potential need for much more generous humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan."

That new alert called on the international community to provide USD 584 million to meet the humanitarian needs of some 7.5 million Afghan civilians over the following six months, with particular concern to ensure adequate food supplies ahead of winter setting in. Unfortunately, increasing conflict in Afghanistan, including the military response to the terrorist attacks on the US, compelled UN agencies to withdraw international staff from the country, and the flow of food and other essentials into the country was slowed or halted.

As the situation unfolded, the UN continued its role in promoting dialogue among Afghan parties, aimed at establishing a broad-based, inclusive government. On 3 October, the Secretary-General reappointed Lakhdar Brahimi, who had resigned two years earlier, as his Special Envoy for Afghanistan.

On 12 November, the "Six plus Two" group met in New York under the chairmanship of the Secretary-General, agreeing on the need for a broad-based and freely chosen Afghan government and pledging continued support for UN humanitarian efforts in Afghanistan, as well as in refugee camps in neighboring States. On 27 November, a conference on Afghanistan's reconstruction sponsored by UNDP, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, opened in Islamabad. Over 300 participants attended, including many from Afghanistan. Issues discussed included the role of women, the importance of education and the creation of a comprehensive health system. A further donor conference – focusing on the immediate and longer-term needs of the country – was held in Berlin in early December.

Meanwhile, the Northern Alliance had entered Mazar-i-Sharif, Herat and then Kabul – a decisive event in the defeat of the Taliban. The United Nations organized a meeting of Afghan political leaders in Bonn in late November. When it concluded on 5 December, the four representative groups, including the Northern Alliance, signed an agreement on a provisional arrangement pending re-establishment of permanent government institutions in Afghanistan.

As a first step, the Afghan Interim Authority was established. On 20 December, the Security Council, by resolution 1386 (2001), authorized the establishment of an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to help the Authority maintain security in Kabul and its surrounding areas. On 22 December, in Kabul, the internationally recognized administration of President Rabbani handed power to the new Interim Afghan Administration, established in Bonn and headed by Chairman Hamid Karzai. Special Representative Brahimi moved to Kabul to commence his activities in support of the new Afghan Administration. At the same time, the first of the ISAF troops were deployed, under British control.

With the easing of hostilities, WFP was able to deliver a record 114,000 metric tonnes of food aid in December 2001 – enough to feed 6 million people for two months. Still, by 20 December, only some USD 358 million of the nearly USD 662 million being sought for UN relief work in Afghanistan had been received, and the needs of only one agency – the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) – had been fully covered. And while the WFP had achieved 81 per cent of its funding requirements, UNHCR had secured only 59 per cent. As in the past, funds were mostly donated for emergency relief, with very little for reconstruction and rehabilitation.

2002
To maintain the momentum for international assistance to Afghanistan generated by the political process, an international conference was held in Tokyo on 21 and 22 January 2002. Addressing the Conference, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said such assistance would require USD 10 billion over a 10-year period, including USD 1.3 billion to cover immediate needs for 2002, which would cover recurrent costs of the Interim Authority, yet unfunded humanitarian assistance, and USD 376 million for quick impact and recovery projects.

"Two months from today, some 1.5 million Afghan girls and boys will return to school, to start a new school year in a new Afghanistan," he said. "For many girls of primary school age, it will be the first time in their lives that they have been allowed to attend school. Supplies and safe learning spaces are needed. Teachers will need to be deployed and paid. If we want to help the next generation of Afghans improve upon the country's recent history, surely this is one place where our efforts must begin."

"Our challenge is to help the Afghans help themselves," Mr. Annan added, describing the country's reconstruction needs as immense. They include the reintegration of former combatants; revival of economic activity; a fairer justice system, democratic institutions and mechanisms to protect human rights; such basic serves as clean water, sanitation, schools, health care and roads; ensuring the country is no longer a haven for terrorists or drug traffickers; ending violence against women; protecting children rights; and ensuring security throughout the country.

A preliminary needs assessment prepared by the World Bank, UNDP and Asian Development Bank identified possible high-priority areas: mine action; a basic health-services package to reduce child and maternal mortality; an education program to enroll over a million girls and boys in school; rapid increase in food production through irrigation and other programs; increased access to safe water; shelter to facilitate resettlement and development of a national urban management capacity; emergency energy supply while restoring the existing power system; urban and rural employment generation; supporting local-level reconstruction; and creating a conducive socio-economic environment for returning refugees.

The Tokyo Conference resulted in pledges of more than USD 4.5 billion, which the Secretary-General described as "remarkably successful." He also praised Chairman Karzai for welcoming international auditors to ensure that the money would be well spent.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan visited Kabul on 25 January 2002 to offer moral support to the new Interim Administration and to thank members of the United Nations staff in Afghanistan for their sustained effort to provide humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people.

The first milestone of the Bonn Agreement was achieved with the announcement that same day of the composition of the Special Independent Commission for the Convening of the Emergency Loya Jirga (Pashtu for “grand council” – a traditional forum in which tribal elders come together and settle affairs).

The Commission was composed of 21 members and had the final authority for determining the procedures for and the number of people who would participate in the Emergency Loya Jirga, which was to elect a Head of State for the Transitional Administration and approve proposals for the structure and key personnel of the Transitional Administration. An Interim Authority was established that same month; an emergency Loyal Jirga of some 1,500 delegates met in June 2002 to form the Transitional Administration of President Hamid Karzai.

2003
In 2003, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and other United Nations entities provided critical support to the Transitional Administration’s efforts to consolidate the peace process. The Afghan administration oversaw some significant accomplishments, including the articulation of a National Development Framework and the National Budget, the adoption of a new national currency, the first steps in the formation of a National Army and a National Police, the start of the reform of the Ministry of Defence (to become nationally representative) which in turn enabled the commencement of the pilot phase of the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) programme, and the return to school of some 4 million boys and girls. The Independent Human Rights Commission established a presence throughout the country and the groundwork was laid for a number of key national reconstruction and development programmes.

Preparations began for national elections, as called for in the Bonn Agreement, and UNAMA provided assistance to the Transitional Administration throughout the process. The Mission established an electoral component to assist the Interim Afghan Electoral Commission in conducting the electoral process. Notwithstanding this progress, the threat that factional forces posed to the peace process in 2003 was increasingly compounded by the terrorist tactics of extremists. The pattern continued to challenge the central government’s authority, slow the pace of reconstruction, and disrupt the peace process. A series of attacks confirmed that the United Nations had become a target: in November, a car bomb exploded outside United Nations offices in Kandahar; a staff member from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was murdered in Ghazni Province, and bombs were placed against the wall of a UNAMA guesthouse in Kabul. The United Nations implemented additional safety measures for its staff, including the suspension of some of its operations, largely in the south, southeast and east of the country.

In August 2003, NATO took over command of ISAF. In order to help stabilize the security situation and allow the extension of the Government’s authority throughout the country, the Security Council in October authorized ISAF, led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), to deploy beyond Kabul.

2004
After the successful conclusion of the Constitutional Loya Jirga in January 2004 and the signing of the new Afghan constitution, the holding of presidential elections in October was the major political development in Afghanistan during 2004. As laid down in the Bonn Agreement of 2001, the country would now have a fully representative government working to move forward and consolidate the transition to peace, assisted by the international community.

With the help of UNAMA, the Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) conducted what was generally judged a peaceful and credible electoral process. Some 10.5 million Afghans – 41 per cent of them women – registered to vote. Voter turnout was high, with about 70 per cent of registered voters going to the polls. Hamid Karzai won the election with 55 per cent of the more than 8 million ballots cast and was sworn in on 7 December 2004 as Afghanistan’s first-ever democratically elected president. As the year came to a close, UNAMA was gearing for its next big challenge – assisting parliamentary elections expected to be held in 2005.

UNAMA has overall responsibility for UN activities in the country. In 2004, as has been the case since the signing of the Bonn Agreement, the priority of the UN system was to support Afghan institutions, with more than 500 UN personnel (international and locally recruited staff) working in Government ministries. UNAMA and several UN agencies and programmes have also been cooperating with the authorities on responses to the six-year drought and other related humanitarian issues affecting 4 million Afghans. Though many children still do not go to school, 4.2 million enrolled in 2004 – the largest number in the history of the country. More than 740,000 refugees returned to Afghanistan in 2004, bringing the total number of returnees since 2002 to 3 million. As a direct result of the UN Mine Action programme, the number of mine victims went down from more than 150 a month in 2002 to fewer than 100 in 2004.

Effective support for reconstruction and development require a sustained and predictable influx of resources. At the Berlin conference in March, the Afghan Government presented a post-conflict transition plan, which laid out a long-term recovery programme. Donors responded generously and pledged some $8.2 billion towards rehabilitation and reconstruction activities for a three-year period (2004 to 2007), with the pledges fully covering the funding needs of the first fiscal year.

However, Afghanistan’s tenuous security situation continued to threaten the gains of the recent transition, with incidents caused by terrorist and criminal activities, as well as factional clashes. The increase in poppy cultivation and narcotics trafficking continued to be of particular concern in 2004 as they further eroded the security environment. This situation had a negative impact on assistance and development programmes in the country, as deployment of the United Nations personnel, NGOs and other humanitarian agencies was restricted due to security considerations.

A further example of the tenuous security situation was the abduction of three UN electoral employees on 28 October 2004 in Kabul in broad daylight. (They were released on 23 November). In September, demonstrators attacked UNAMA, UNHCR and other UN and NGO offices in Herat. Last year some 33 voter registration personnel were wounded, and 12 were killed.

A crucial factor in improving the local security environment has been to speed up the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration process (DDR) of former combatants. Reducing the power of factions would help create space for the effective functioning of the legitimate Government institutions.

Afghan’s disarmament programme, launched with UN support in late 2003, has two major components: demobilizing and promoting the reintegration of an estimated 50,000-60,000 soldiers and officers from existing military units registered with the Ministry of Defense, and collecting heavy weapons. About 30,000 members of the Afghan Military Forces had been disarmed by the end of 2004 and more than 7,500 useable or reparable weapons collected, which included tanks, rockets, anti-aircraft guns, and armoured personnel carriers.

Improving security throughout Afghanistan and establishing the rule of law are key elements for a successful transition to peace. Although there has been some progress in the establishment of the new Afghan National Army and National Police as well as in the reform of the justice sector, support from the international community, in particular through the presence of international military forces, will continue to be required. As part of its assistance mandate, UNAMA’s priorities in 2005 will focus on preparations for legislative elections, the conclusion of DDR, and support to governance and institutional development. UNAMA will devote special attention to the new National Assembly, the continuation of the reform of the justice sector and the fight against narcotics. Work towards the establishment of the rule of law will continue, including support for mechanisms to protect human rights, and in particular for the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission.

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