Security Council mission urges factional leaders to support Afghan government

The Security Council delegation visiting Afghanistan urged factional leaders today to give their full support to reforms made by the country’s central government.

The mission’s leader, German Ambassador Gunter Pleuger, told reporters in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif that factional fighting in the region had to stop. “Cooperation between the local authorities and the factional leaders here in the north is central for the political process,” he said.

A spokesperson for the 15-member Council delegation said the group conducted “very intense” discussions with General Usted Atta Mohammad and General Abdul Rashid Dostum about the need to back the government of President Hamid Karzai.

Mr. Karzai’s Government is in the process of disarming, demobilizing and reintegrating fighters to achieve a unified Afghan army and police force.

The mission also spoke to the interim governor of Balkh province, UN field staff in the region, British soldiers from the Provincial Reconstruction Team and local female professionals.

The mission concludes tomorrow in the capital, Kabul, before the delegation returns to New York.