South Asia News
BACKGROUND: Enthusiasm for Afghan deployment waning in many countries
By Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Oct 10, 2007, 11:08 GMT

Almost 40 countries have committed troops, police and aid workers to the pacification and reconstruction of Afghanistan since the US- led operation to oust the Taliban began in October 2001.

As early as December of that year, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1386, setting up the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to secure the Kabul region.

But in the face of mounting death tolls, soaring poppy production and only scant evidence of progress on the reconstruction front, enthusiasm for the deployment is fading in many countries.

Apart from the costs - economic and human - many Europeans are concerned their countries could become targets for the kind of terrorist attacks seen in Madrid in March 2004 and London in July the following year.

NATO-led ISAF is the largest allied operation and was originally intended to provide security and reconstruction, although its mandate has been extended to include combat operations against the Taliban in the south of the country.

The US-led Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) is primarily an anti- Taliban operation, while there are other allied missions such as the European Union police mission.

In total, there are reported to be some 50,000 foreign forces of all kinds in Afghanistan.

The United States and Britain have the largest deployments - 23,000 and 6,700 respectively - and have taken the worst casualties. The US has lost 449 and Britain 82, but political support for the campaign remains broad-based in both countries.

The US has pressured Germany and France to play a larger role in combating resurgent Taliban militants in southern Afghanistan and to lift rules that limit troops to a peacekeeping role in relatively safe areas.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown is firmly committed to the mission and plans to raise the number of British troops to 8,000 by the end of the year.

'If the Taliban were to take over in Afghanistan, the whole of the civilized world would be affected,' Brown said recently. 'We must support American and NATO forces in Afghanistan.'

British commanders have spoken of a 30-year 'marathon mission.'

The situation is very different in Canada. The loss of 71 soldiers, largely in heavy fighting in the southern province of Kandahar, from a relatively small deployment of 2,500, has led to a strong swing in public opinion against the mission.

Initially 80 per cent of Canadians were in favour, but the latest renewal of the mandate in 2006 just squeaked through parliament.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has assured the US that Canadian troops will remain at least until February 2009, but after that he faces parliamentary hurdles amid growing public resistance.

Germany has the third-largest deployment at 3,500, but its troops are confined to the relatively peaceful north away from the main anti-Taliban operations and to flying reconnaissance missions.

The Germans have lost 25, 14 to attacks and the rest to accidents. While the major political parties continue to back the deployment, polls show a small majority in favour of pulling the troops out, despite broad political backing for the mission.

France, which has its forces deployed mainly in the Kabul region, has lost a dozen. In August President Nicolas Sarkozy announced an increase in the French effort to train the Afghan army, raising the total to 1,150.

In a show of commitment that is increasingly rare among allies weary of commitments to Iraq and Afghanistan, Sarkozy said recently: 'I am more determined than ever to continue the struggle against terrorism.'

Poland and the Netherlands are two countries with substantial numbers of troops committed, despite strong opposition among the general population.

Poland has some 1,200 troops deployed in the south-east, with Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski committed to continuing the mission.

But public opposition is estimated at above 80 per cent, even though casualties have thus far been minimal.

Most Dutch want their almost 1,700 troops home by August next year, when the current mandate expires, with only 30 per cent backing an extension.

Against this background, parliament is to decide this month whether to renew the mission to the volatile Oruzgan Province south- west of Kabul, where 11 have been killed, six in hostile incidents.

The Australians have committed 970 troops, mainly to supporting the Dutch in Oruzgan. Political and popular support for the mission remain strong.

Italy has 2,300 soldiers deployed in Kabul and the western province of Herat on the Iranian border.

Parliament voted in March to extend the mandate, but Prime Minister Romano Prodi's nine-party coalition government is divided, with leftists calling for a pull-out.

Keen to be seen as a staunch NATO member, Turkey's political class is strongly behind continuing the mission of the more than 1,000 troops providing logistics and communications in the Kabul region.

But this remains true only as long as its forces stay out of the shooting war. There is little or no public debate on the deployment.