FROM THE 'I THOUGHT THE WAR WAS OVER' FILE...
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US ready to examine expanding Afghan force beyond Kabul
(AFP)
11 August 2003
BRUSSELS - The United States is ready to examine ”seriously” calls to expand the mandate of NATO-led peacekeepers in Afghanistan beyond the capital Kabul, US ambassador to NATO Nicholas Burns said on Monday.
“This idea will need to be considered seriously once NATO has settled into its role in Kabul,” he wrote in the Wall Street Journal as the alliance took over command of Afghanistan’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
Burns said in a commentary that “one option” would be for NATO to participate in US-led “Provincial Reconstruction Teams” which are already active in trying to enforce security outside Kabul.
While Kabul remains relatively secure, a guerrilla insurgency by suspected Taleban and Al Qaeda militants has intensified in southern and southeastern Afghanistan, the former heartland of the ousted hardline militia.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/subcontinent/2003/August/subcontinent_August266.xml§ion=subcontinent