Peacekeepers must be in Kabul in two weeks

An international force must be deployed in Kabul before the interim government takes office in Afghanistan in two weeks time, the head of UN peacekeeping said yesterday.

The force would be authorised by the security council but not under UN command, Jean-Marie Guehenno told a London press conference.

He described it as "multinational... a coalition of the willing, not a blue-helmet force".

"In these circumstances it is the countries that compose the force that decide its organisation, not the UN."

He was speaking before meeting the international development secretary, Clare Short, and senior officials of the Ministry of Defence.

He declined to comment on the force's size, saying that should be decided by the contributing countries "based on an assessment of their security needs and how they assess security conditions in Afghanistan".

But there was no shortage of offers, he added. Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands had all offered troops.

MoD officials said Britain had not been asked to contribute, and it was far from certain that the Afghans wanted British troops.

"If we were asked, we would want to know what the nature of the mission was and how long it would last," a defence source said.

Mr Guehenno played down the suggestion that it should be made up entirely by Muslim countries, including Turkey. Those countries did not want a "religious-based" force, he said.

A large body of troops from Turkey, which has close links with Northern Alliance leaders, is unlikely to be welcomed by the Pashtun majority in the south, diplomats say.

Mr Guehenno said the first elements of the force must be in Kabul by December 22 when the interim administration representing tribes and ethnic groups from across Afghanistan is due to assume office.

Once the details of the force were agreed with the new Afghan leadership, the security council could endorse it in "a matter of days".

There should be a "progressive deployment" beginning in Kabul and spreading out to other cities.

The troops would help to deliver aid as well as provide a secure environment for the new regime, he said.

Diplomatic efforts to hold the nascent post-Taliban government together were stepped up yesterday.

The Turkish prime minister, Bulent Ecevit, said he planned to talk to the Northern Alliance warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum, who is boycotting the administration.

Mr Ecevit refused to be drawn on what message Ankara would take to Gen Dostum, who has threatened to cut off large swaths of north ern Afghanistan to the power-sharing government.

But he said he would press for agreement between the parties.

"Some leaders have taken negative stances against the decisions taken [in Bonn]," he said.

"As regards who is right and who is wrong, we can't interfere, but they must reach an agreement."

When the peacekeepers will be sent in depends to a large extent on the attitude of the US, whose commanders have said their priority is to establish anti-Taliban control over Kandahar, pursue Taliban leaders, and hunt down Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida followers.

Mr Guehenno described the UN's job as facilitating the political conditions to "empower" the new government, not to take responsibility away from it.

The "issue of justice" was as fundamental, he said.

"There will be no reconciliation if there is no justice."