§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what arrangements have been made for international supervision and monitoring of the forthcoming elections in Afghanistan. [178039]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienThe Joint Elections Management Body (JEMB), comprised of the Afghan Transitional Administration (ATA) and UN representatives, and chaired by Interior Minister Jalali, is responsible for election preparations. As part of its electoral support plans, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) intends to establish an 'Observation Office' to facilitate national and international election observation. The Office is intended to support information exchange between Afghan and international observers and other interested parties; provide briefing packages for observers; and develop training materials for Afghan observers.
We are currently discussing with EU partners and the European Commission a range of measures to support the elections, including deployment of monitors and advisers. There are also likely to be observer teams from a number of other countries. Work is also in hand to develop domestic monitoring capacity. Afghan civil society organisations involved in this have formed a 'Core Group' to coordinate domestic monitoring activities.
§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the extent of the reform of the Afghan National Army since 2002. [178054]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienThe creation of multi-ethnic and accountable armed forces, providing the elected Government with the institutional means to exercise their authority, is one of the key challenges for the Afghan Government and international community in post-conflict Afghanistan. Considerable progress has been made, and the Afghan National Army (ANA) is now about 10,000 strong. In recent months the training of officers and soldiers has been accelerated after the building of further capacity at the military training centre in Kabul and a total of 1,800 additional troops are now able to undergo training at any one time.
International support in this area is led by the United States. UK military forces stationed within the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) are providing training and mentoring for Afghan NCOs. In the next few months the ANA will start to establish permanent bases in cities outside Kabul, with the first to be established in Kandahar. This follows successful deployment of ANA battalions in March and April 2004 in response to unrest in the Herat and Faryab regions.