THE visit to Kabul by NATO...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen along with the 35 ambassadors who participate in the NATO council in Brussels was, from Afghanistan's perspective, particularly welcome.
A delegation of permanent representatives of the UN Security Council (UNSC) had cancelled a scheduled visit for security reasons shortly after the UNSC authorised the extension of the stay of NATO forces in Afghanistan up to Oct 13, 2013.
There was good reason for concern on the part of the UN delegation. The Taliban are not conquering territory or restoring their writ in areas they have vacated. But they have established through attacks on Camp Bastion and subsequently on another base in eastern Afghanistan that they are capable of launching sophisticated and complex attacks on what were considered to be invulnerable targets.
They have also been able to create the perception that either because of their infiltration or as a consequence of what is termed 'cultural differences', a substantial number of Afghan cops cannot be relied upon to protect their NATO partners and may well attack what they perceive as lucrative targets such as a high-level UN delegation.
There was also good reason for the NATO delegates to come despite the security threat. Rasmussen needed to reassure the Afghans that despite all the news that had been appearing about the US and other NATO countries, NATO was committed to the end-2014 withdrawal timetable.
He also made reassuring noises about NATO being prepared to maintain a presence in Afghanistan and that the latter would not be left alone after 2014.
In answers to questions, however, Rasmussen did concede that if conditions permitted, the withdrawal could come earlier. This has to be read in conjunction with an interview given to the Guardian by the new British ambassador in Kabul who, having acknowledged that there was an ongoing debate about withdrawal, hinted that not only was an early pullout possible but that it was preferable.
What was perhaps of greater importance was Karzai's assertion that he was quite prepared to handle the situation arising from an earlier withdrawal -- the sort of defiant note that has characterised all his recent statements about his NATO allies. This is, to put it mildly, something of a departure from reality given that not one Afghan battalion is graded as capable of handling an operation without assistance.
An International Crisis Group report published a few days ago asserts in this context that only seven per cent of the army and nine per cent of the national police units are considered capable of independent action even with advisers.
To make matters more difficult, the Afghan cops, particularly the army, are faced with a situation where the annual desertion rate is 33 per cent and 65,000 soldiers have to be recruited every year to fill the ranks.