Lakhdar Brahimi, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan: Thank you for having me here. As you may know, I am here to attend a meeting of donors on how to help the Interim Administration of Afghanistan and the people of Afghanistan reform the security sector and pay salaries to both the military and the police. We will also be discussing issues relating to the demobilization and reintegration of former combatants. That meeting will take place here tomorrow. Also tomorrow, there will be a signing ceremony of the tripartite agreement between UNHCR, the Interim Administration and the Government of Iran for the repatriation of refugees from that country. These are the reasons that brought me to Geneva and I will be very happy to answer your questions to the best of my ability.

Question: Very simply, how many persons are you hoping to mobilize in the security sector and for how long, what is the objective, and how much money do you need from the international community, how many salaries need to be paid to soldiers and the police?

Mr. Brahimi: Those are many questions. I think that in Afghanistan there are between 200,000 and 250,000 former combatants, not all of whom are now members of the armed forces. But they are still persons who are in need of help to rebuild their lives in dignity in their country. The Afghans believe that the army comprises some 60,000 soldiers, in addition to border guards and airforce personnel. This cannot be achieved in a few months but that is the goal. I cannot give you figures for the amount of money required. The Afghan Foreign Minister will present the figures tomorrow but, as you know, the country was totally destroyed. Not one army barracks is left standing. The police force and army needs to be equipped from scratch. I think we are talking about several hundreds of millions of dollars over a period of two to three years.

Question: You are talking only about the national police force and the national army and you say tens of millions of dollars are needed. Is none of this included in the billions of dollars which were pledged in Tokyo? Is this a separate appeal that you are making?

Mr. Brahimi: I do not know exactly what was pledged in Tokyo and for what. But I think that the donors have to earmark some of it themselves, whether they consider it from the pledges that they have made in Tokyo or not, to this specific need. As you know, many countries and organizations are generally reluctant to contribute to the military. What we have been saying all along is that in the case of Afghanistan, this is an essential part, indeed the first indispensable part, of any reconstruction programme. This process depends on the resolution of the security situation. This is obvious enough. Therefore, the contribution and earmarking money to the security sector is both vital, indispensable and urgent.

Question: There is a difference isn't there between the national army and the appeal that is being made by some for an expansion of the international security and peacekeepers force to perhaps 20,000 or 30,000 persons?

Mr. Brahimi: Yes, it is two different things, but they are really part of the same logic. I think in Bonn it has been said very very clearly and simply that ultimately, security is the responsibility of the people of Afghanistan. So the people of Afghanistan have to have their security forces. What we are talking about here tomorrow is how we are going to form and reform that security sector. Now, that will not happen overnight. And what is happening in Kabul, the international multinational force authorized by the Security Council is doing an extremely useful and really, not dangerous job. So what the Afghans are saying, and many of us are supporting that, is that an extension of that presence from Kabul to other parts of Afghanistan for a limited period of time would be extremely helpful.

Question: Mr. Brahimi, bearing in mind what we heard earlier from UNHCR about running out of funds because the refugee returns have been much quicker than expected, and other examples, mostly complaints from the Afghan Interim Administration that they are not receiving the funds quickly enough, and even then not enough, are we not in danger of the international community committing itself to something it cannot afford?

Mr. Brahimi: It can definitely afford it. The people who made this commitment in Tokyo came fully mandated by their respective governments or organizations, and they made commitments on that basis. The thing is, it is always much slower than the needs are in Afghanistan and elsewhere. That I think we accept. I think people have to realize - that is Governments and organizations such as the World Bank, the Development Bank for Asia and the European Union - that the needs are pressing and urgent. You mentioned UNHCR. I have just seen the High Commissioner. They were thinking in terms of something like one million refugees returning this year. If the rate of return keeps up, we will be far far above that number, and this is a tremendous pressure on resources and on capacity. Whereas we always appeal to the Afghans to show a little bit more patience, you cannot expect five billion to be injected in the Afghan economy overnight, I think we do also appeal to the international community to be as fast as possible.

Question: Just to clarify, at the present moment, the international force is mandated only for Kabul. Mr. Karzai has asked for this international force to be extended to the rest of the country, but there were objections by at least two permanent members of the Security Council. Also, since there is no international force outside of Kabul, how is the country being looked after on security issues?

Mr. Brahimi: You are right. Mr. Karazai has made that appeal. The Secretary-General has relayed that several times. And I think all the people who know anything about Afghanistan, wherever they come from, including from those two countries that you mentioned, know that this is needed. Your colleague a while ago spoke of 30,000 or 40,000. I do not know whether that much is needed. Probably much less than that would be useful. Unfortunately, as it looks today, that does not seem to be happening. The Afghans are doing their best with their local means to keep as best security as they can. I was in Herat and Kandahar not very long ago. There is some local police that is created by the governments of these two places. And I think that security in Herat is recognized as reasonably good. And Kandahar, where things were a little bit rough as you are aware, they have now lifted the curfew which means that the situation is improving. But dangers are still there, especially with the Loya Jirga which really is a political process that is going to introduce major changes in the country, and any political process is divisive. So we are a little bit concerned and we would like the international community to pay a little bit of attention to this.

Question: Mr. Brahimi you are an expert and fine diplomat whom the international community has called upon even before your role in Afghanistan. What do you think about the current situation in the Middle East? What do you think of the lack of political will shown by the great Powers, the permanent members of the Security Council? What can one do to remove the blockages in the situation?

Mr. Brahimi: This is a very painful subject. My reply is that in the United Nations, I am not entrusted with this subject. The Secretary-General speaks about it almost daily- you know his position - and the Security Council has adopted a resolution specifically asking Israel to withdraw from the territories. But now, if you want my entirely personal opinion, I have said before that if what is going on in Palestine took place anywhere else, we would have been

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