HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK ---------------------------
Wednesday January 2 9:24 AM ET International Team Inspects Afghan Capital By Jeremy Page KABUL, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A reconnaissance team from 12 nations contributing to an international security force in the war-torn Afghan capital began inspecting the city Wednesday as British troops prepared a base for the peace-keeping operation. The 25-strong team from Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, Greece, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Romania met British troops at the force's headquarters in a dilapidated former sports club in the center of Kabul. About 300 British troops have now moved into the base to prepare for a U.N.-mandated International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), under British General John McColl, backing the interim government that replaced the Taliban. ``Today marks the arrival of the multinational recce party from all the troop-contributing nations that intend to place forces into the International Security Assistance Force,创 said British Colonel Richard Barrons, chief of staff at the ISAF headquarters. ``They will spend the next two days or so traveling around Kabul ... to understand the operation we intend to run and to have a look at where their forces will be based,创 he told reporters. AGREEMENT INITIALLED McColl and Afghan Interior Minister Yunis Qanuni initialled an agreement Monday on deploying the ISAF, which is expected to swell to about 4,500 troops in the next few weeks and begin patrolling in mid-January. ``There are clear language difficulties and very significant cultural differences,创 said Barrons. ``We磖e going to have to work very hard to establish the effective partnership we seek with the Afghan authorities.创 The reconnaissance team will report its findings to the 12 governments, which will review the ISAF agreement before it is formally signed in a few days, British officials said. France will provide some 500 troops over the next two or three weeks, mainly to protect Kabul's international airport, said Colonel Jean Marc Marill of the French marine infantry. Germany had not yet decided how many troops it would contribute, although parliament had approved up to 1,200 troops, said Colonel Reinhold Schmidt of the German general staff. ``The exact number will depend on the facts we find during this recce,创 he said. Spain would contribute about 500 troops responsible for logistics, support helicopters and de-mining among other things, said Captain Andres Castan of the Spanish army's logistic unit. Italy would send about 350 soldiers starting from January 8, said Colonel Giorgio Battisti of the Italian general staff. BRITISH PREPARE BASE At the sports club, used as a military base under the Taliban, British troops began laying out barbed wire fences, setting up tents, repairing windows and restoring electricity in a concrete building that will be the ISAF headquarters. Captain Gareth Moore of Britain's Royal Army Medical Corps said the biggest challenge was maintaining basic hygiene and preventing water and air-borne infections. ``There磗 no heating and all the windows are broken out,创 he said. ``We aim to have hot water in about three weeks.创 Squadron Leader Elizabeth Rowland of Britain's Royal Air Force, the only woman officer on the base, said she had faced no problems working in a city where women were banned from work and forced to wear a burqa for the last five years of Taliban rule. ``I was quite tentative at first as to whether I could make my presence felt,创 she said, adding that she had been wary of traveling in a car without a headscarf. ``I was pleasantly surprised that I could.创 ``Now I磎 getting braver all the time, winding down the window and talking to the locals.创 But for the moment, all troops would be confined to the base even when off duty, British officials said. ``Clearly there is a threat here,创 said British planning officer Major Rob Magowan. ``If there wasn磘 a threat, there would be no need for ISAF. ``But the make-up of the force is such that we have a robust mandate to be able to cope with that kind of threat in Kabul.创 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send your FREE holiday greetings online! http://greetings.yahoo.com ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9WB2D Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
