Afghanistan: UN laments slow pace of disarmament in north

The disarmament exercise in northern Afghanistan is not going well, and the speed of the process and the amount of arms collected have not met expectations, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said today.

To address the slow progress in Sholgara, Gen. Ustad Atta Mohammad and Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum held meetings yesterday and this morning together with other members of the Security Commission, a spokesman for UNAMA said in Kabul. The Commission is composed of representatives from the key military factions in the north as well as a representative from the UN.

"Disarmament is the sort of thing that you do not impose on the parties," Manoel de Almeida e Silva said. "They have to do it themselves."