NATO measures could cut military presence in North Afghanistan where Finns operate

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NATO is considering pulling some of its forces out of the relatively peaceful north of Afghanistan, where Finnish crisis management forces operate, and moving them to the more violent south.
      Finland has a main force of 100 soldiers in Mazar-i-Sharif in the north of Afghanistan in a Swedish-led Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT).
      "We need to ask if militarily-led PRTs are necessary in the north", said Paul Turner, a European Commission official who assesses the need for aid to Afghanistan, on Thursday.
     Turner was was in Helsinki taking part in an Afghanistan seminar organised by the Finnish Ministry of Defence.
     Also speaking at the event was Afghanistan's Foreign Minister Ragnin Dadfar Spanta.
     The idea got support for other participants. Tim Foxley of the British Ministry of Defence, who specialises in reconstruction activities, felt that placing reconstruction under the leadership of civilians or Afghan forces should be studied.
     In the evaluation of the situation in Afghanistan, there has long been an emphasis on the role of civilian workers and Afghanis themselves in stabilising the country. There already are civilians in the PRT groups. Finland's aim has also been to increase the proportion of civilians in Mazar-i-Sharif.
     
However, proposals to reduce the number of soldiers and to move the reconstruction teams under civilian control in the more peaceful areas of Afghanistan are nevertheless new.
     Finnish plans that have been made public have not considered the possibility that soldiers in Mazar-i-Sharif could be freed for other missions.
     On Friday the Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee is drafting a statement on the government's report on Finnish participation in the stabilisation of Afghanistan. The committee's chairman, Pertti Salolainen (Nat. Coalition Party), says that there has been no talk of placing the reconstruction teams under civilian leadership.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  President Halonen: Afghanistan more risky than before for peacekeepers (20.9.2007)
  Kaskeala: no increase needed in Finnish force in Afghanistan for at least a year (16.8.2007)
  Finland rules out greater Afghanistan commitment (7.2.2008)
  Finnish colonel: violence in Iraq serves as model for Afghanistan (7.11.2007)

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