Security Council extends UN mission in Afghanistan for another year
Stressing the urgent need to tackle ongoing challenges in Afghanistan including the fight against narcotics, terrorist threats and timely preparation for elections, the Security Council today unanimously extended the mandate of the United Nations mission in the country for another 12 months through 24 March 2006.
Stressing the urgent need to tackle ongoing challenges in Afghanistan including the fight against narcotics, terrorist threats and timely preparation for elections, the Security Council today unanimously extended the mandate of the United Nations mission in the country for another 12 months through 24 March 2006.
In Resolution 1589, the 15-member body called on the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) to continue to help facilitate parliamentary, provincial and district elections, scheduled for 18 September, with the broadest possible participation, and urged the donor community to promptly make available the necessary funding.
Stressing the importance of security for credible elections, it called upon Member States to contribute personnel, equipment and other resources to support the expansion of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the establishment of provincial reconstruction teams to coordinate closely with UNAMA and the Afghan Government.
Welcoming the Government’s efforts so far to implement its national drug control strategy, the resolution supported the fight against illicit trafficking of drugs and precursors within Afghanistan and in neighbouring States, including increased cooperation among them to strengthen anti-narcotic controls to curb the flow.
The Council action followed receipt on Monday of Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s latest report in which he stressed that Afghanistan will need sustained international help way beyond September’s elections, which mark formal completion of the Bonn accord that set up the country’s transitional phase after the ouster of the Taliban regime in 2001.
Mr. Annan noted that a number of post-conflict peace-building tasks had yet to be fulfilled, including the restoration of countrywide security, full resettlement of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), the rehabilitation of key economic and social infrastructure and the establishment of functional state institutions across the country.