VZCZCXRO9856
OO RUEHTRO
DE RUEHC #8948/01 0800233
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O P 200226Z MAR 08
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK IMMEDIATE 1019
INFO UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL PRIORITY 2925
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO PRIORITY 2055

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 STATE 028948 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: UNSC PHUM PGOV PREL MARR AF
SUBJECT: AFGHANISTAN - INSTRUCTION FOR UNAMA MANDATE 
 
RENEWAL 
 
¶1. The Department instructs USUN to join consensus and 
vote in favor of the resolution renewing for one year the 
UN Mission in Afghanistan's mandate, to be considered by 
the Security Council on Thursday, March 20. 
 
¶2. Begin resolution text: 
 
The Security Council, 
 
PP1 Recalling its previous resolutions on Afghanistan, in 
particular its resolution 1746 (2007) extending through 23 
March 2008 the mandate of the United Nations Assistance 
Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) as established by 
resolution 1662 (2006), and recalling also its resolution 
1659 (2006) endorsing the Afghanistan Compact, 
 
PP2 Reaffirming its strong commitment to the sovereignty, 
independence, territorial integrity and national unity of 
 
Afghanistan, 
 
PP3 Reaffirming its continued support for the Government 
and people of Afghanistan as they rebuild their country, 
strengthen the foundations of sustainable peace and 
constitutional democracy and assume their rightful place 
in the community of nations, 
 
PP4 Reaffirming in this context its support for the 
implementation, under the ownership of the Afghan people, 
of the Afghanistan Compact, of the Afghanistan National 
Development Strategy (ANDS) and of the National Drugs 
Control Strategy, and noting that sustained and 
coordinated efforts by all relevant actors are required to 
consolidate progress made towards their implementation and 
to overcome continuing challenges, 
 
PP5 Recalling that the Afghanistan Compact is based on a 
partnership between the Afghan Government and the 
international community, based on the desire of the 
parties for Afghanistan to progressively assume 
responsibility for its own development and security, and 
with a central and impartial coordinating role for the 
United Nations, 
 
PP6 Stressing the central and impartial role that the 
United Nations continues to play in promoting peace and 
stability in Afghanistan by leading the efforts of the 
international community, including, jointly with the 
Government of Afghanistan, the coordination and monitoring 
of efforts in implementing the Afghanistan Compact, and 
expressing its appreciation and strong support for the 
ongoing efforts of the Secretary-General, his Special 
Representative for Afghanistan and the women and men of 
UNAMA, 
 
PP7 Recognizing once again the interconnected nature of 
the challenges in Afghanistan, reaffirming that 
sustainable progress on security, governance and 
development, as well as the cross-cutting issue of 
counter-narcotics is mutually reinforcing and welcoming 
the continuing efforts of the Afghan Government and the 
international community to address these challenges 
through a comprehensive approach, 
 
PP8 Stressing the importance of a comprehensive approach 
 
in addressing the challenges in Afghanistan and noting, in 
this context, the synergies in the objectives of UNAMA and 
of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), and 
stressing the need for strengthened cooperation, 
coordination and mutual support, taking due account of 
their respective designated responsibilities, 
 
PP9 Reiterating its concern about the security situation 
in Afghanistan, in particular the increased violent and 
terrorist activities by the Taliban, Al-Qaida, illegally 
armed groups, criminals and those involved in the 
narcotics trade, and the increasingly strong links between 
terrorism activities and illicit drugs, resulting in 
threats to the local population, including children, 
national security forces and international military and 
civilian personnel, 
 
PP10 Stressing the importance of ensuring safe and 
 
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unhindered access of humanitarian workers, including 
United Nations staff and associated personnel, 
 
PP11 Expressing also its concern over the harmful 
consequences of violent and terrorist activities by the 
Taliban, Al-Qaida and other extremist groups on the 
capacity of the Afghan Government to guarantee the rule of 
law, to provide security and basic services to the Afghan 
people, and to ensure the improvement and protection of 
their human rights and fundamental freedoms, 
 
PP12 Recalling the importance of the Kabul Declaration of 
22 December 2002 on Good-Neighbourly Relations (Kabul 
Declaration) (S/2002/1416), looking forward to the Third 
Regional Economic Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan to 
be held in Islamabad, and stressing the crucial importance 
of advancing regional cooperation as an effective means to 
promote security, governance and development in 
Afghanistan, 
 
PP13 Welcoming the holding of the Afghan-Pakistani Peace 
Jirga in Kabul on August 2007 and the collective 
determination expressed at the Jirga to bring sustainable 
peace to the region, including by addressing the terrorist 
threat, and expressing its support for the relevant 
follow-up processes, 
 
PP14 Recalling its resolutions 1265 (1999), 1296 (2000), 
 
1674 (2006), 1738 (2006) on the protection of civilians in 
armed conflict, its resolution 1325 (2000) on women and 
peace and security, and its resolution 1612 (2005) on 
children and armed conflict, and taking note with 
appreciation of the 7th report of the Secretary 
General (S/2007/757) on Children and Armed Conflict of 
21 December 2007, 
 
 
¶1. Welcomes the report of the Secretary-General of 6 
March 2008 (S/2008/159); 
 
¶2. Expresses its appreciation for the United Nations' 
long-term commitment to work with the Government and the 
people of Afghanistan; 
 
¶3. Decides to extend the mandate of UNAMA, as defined in 
its resolutions 1662 (2006) and 1746 (2007), until 23 
March 2009; 
 
¶4. Decides further that UNAMA and the Special 
Representative of the Secretary-General, within their 
mandate and guided by the principle of reinforcing Afghan 
ownership and leadership, will lead the international 
civilian efforts to, inter alia: 
 (a) promote, as co-chair of the Joint Coordination and 
Monitoring Board (JCMB), more coherent support by the 
international community to the Afghan Government and the 
adherence to the principles of aid effectiveness 
enumerated in the Afghanistan Compact, including through 
mobilization of resources, coordination of the assistance 
provided by international donors and organizations, and 
direction of the contributions of UN agencies, funds and 
programmes, in particular for counter-narcotics, 
reconstruction and development activities; 
 (b) strengthen the cooperation with ISAF at all levels and 
throughout the country, in accordance with their existing 
mandates, in order to improve civil-military coordination, 
to facilitate the timely exchange of information and to 
ensure coherence between the activities of national and 
international security forces and of civilian actors in 
support of an Afghan-led development and stabilization 
process, including through engagement with provincial 
reconstruction teams and engagement with non-governmental 
organizations; 
 (c) through a strengthened and expanded presence 
 
throughout the country, provide political outreach, 
promote at the local level the implementation of the 
Compact, of the ANDS and of the National Drugs Control 
Strategy, and facilitate inclusion in and understanding of 
the Government's policies; 
(d) provide good offices to support, if requested by the 
Afghan Government, the implementation of Afghan-led 
reconciliation programmes, within the framework of the 
Afghan Constitution and with full respect of the 
implementation of measures introduced by the Security 
Council in its resolution 1267 (1999) and other relevant 
resolutions of the Council; 
(e) support efforts, including through the Independent 
Directorate for Local Governance, to improve governance 
 
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and the rule of law and to combat corruption, in 
particular at sub-national level, and to promote 
development initiatives at the local level with a view to 
helping bring the benefits of peace and deliver services 
in a timely and sustainable manner; 
 (f) play a central coordinating role to facilitate the 
delivery of humanitarian assistance in accordance with 
humanitarian principles and with a view to building the 
capacity of the Afghan Government, including by providing 
effective support to national and local authorities in 
assisting and protecting internally displaced persons and 
to creating conditions conducive to the voluntary, safe, 
dignified and sustainable return of refugees and 
internally displaced persons; 
 (g) continue, with the support of the Office of the United 
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, to cooperate 
with the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission 
(AIHRC), to cooperate also with relevant international and 
local non-governmental organizations, to monitor the 
situation of civilians, to coordinate efforts to ensure 
their protection and to assist in the full implementation 
of the fundamental freedoms and human rights provisions of 
the Afghan Constitution and international treaties to 
which Afghanistan is a state party, in particular those 
regarding the full enjoyment by women of their human 
rights; 
 (h) support, at the request of the Afghan authorities, a 
democratic electoral process, in particular through the Afghan 
Independent Electoral Commission (AIEC), by providing 
technical assistance, coordinating other international 
donors, agencies and organizations providing assistance 
and channeling existing and additional funds earmarked to 
 
support the process; 
(i) support regional cooperation to work towards a stable 
and prosperous Afghanistan; 
 
¶5. Calls upon all Afghan and international parties to 
coordinate with UNAMA in the implementation of its mandate 
and in efforts to promote the security and freedom of 
movement of United Nations and associated personnel 
throughout the country; 
 
¶6. Stresses the importance of strengthening and expanding 
the presence of UNAMA and other UN agencies, funds and 
programmes in the provinces, and encourages the 
Secretary-General to pursue current efforts to finalize 
 
SIPDIS 
the necessary arrangements to address the security issues 
associated with such strengthening and expansion; 
 
¶7. Calls on the Afghan Government, and the international 
community and international organizations, to implement 
the Afghanistan Compact and its annexes in full, and 
stresses in this context the importance of meeting the 
benchmarks and timelines of the Compact for progress on 
security, governance, rule of law and human rights, and 
economic and social development, as well as the 
cross-cutting issue of counter-narcotics; 
 
¶8. Reaffirms the central role played by the JCMB in 
coordinating, facilitating and monitoring the 
implementation of the Compact, stresses the need to 
strengthen its authority and capacity to, inter alia, 
measure progress towards the benchmarks outlined in the 
Afghanistan Compact and facilitate the coordination of 
international assistance in support of the ANDS, and calls 
upon all relevant actors to cooperate with the JCMB in 
this regard, including by reporting assistance programmes 
to the Afghan Government's aid coordination unit and to 
the JCMB; 
 
¶9. Welcomes the progress made by the Afghan Government in 
the finalization of the ANDS, looks forward to its launch, 
and stresses the importance, in this context, of adequate 
resource mobilization, including through the fulfilment of 
the pledges made at the London Conference, possible new 
pledges and increased assistance to the core budget; 
 
¶10. Notes with interest the intention, expressed by JCMB 
 
members at the Political Directors Meeting on Afghanistan 
held in Tokyo on 5 February 2008, to prepare an 
international conference to review progress on the 
implementation of the Afghanistan Compact, welcomes the 
offer of France to host such conference in Paris in June 
2008, and requests the Secretary-General to report to the 
Security Council on its outcome and to include in this 
report, if necessary, further recommendations concerning 
UNAMA's mandate; 
 
 
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¶11. Calls upon the Afghan Government, with the assistance 
of the international community, including the 
International Security Assistance Force and Operation 
Enduring Freedom coalition, in accordance with their 
respective designated responsibilities as they evolve, to 
continue to address the threat to the security and 
stability of Afghanistan posed by the Taliban, Al-Qaida, 
illegally armed groups, criminals and those involved in 
the narcotics trade, 
 
¶12. Condemns in the strongest terms all attacks, including 
Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attacks, suicide attacks 
and abductions, targeting civilians and Afghan and 
international forces and their deleterious effect on the 
stabilization, reconstruction and development efforts in 
Afghanistan, and condemns further the use by the Taliban 
and other extremist groups of civilians as human shields; 
 
¶13. Reiterates its concern about all civilian casualties, 
calls for compliance with international humanitarian and 
human rights law and for all appropriate steps to be taken 
to ensure the protection of civilians, and recognizes in 
this context the robust efforts taken by ISAF and other 
international forces to minimize the risk of civilian 
casualties, notably the continuous review of tactics and 
procedures and the conduct of after-action reviews in 
cooperation with the Afghan Government in cases where 
civilian casualties have reportedly occurred; 
 
¶14. Expresses its strong concern about the recruitment and 
use of children by Taliban forces in Afghanistan as well 
as the killing and maiming of children as a result of the 
conflict, reiterates its strong condemnation of the 
recruitment and use of child soldiers in violation of 
applicable international law and all other violations and 
abuses committed against children in situations of armed 
 
conflict, and stresses the importance of implementing 
Security Council resolution 1612 (2005); in this context, 
requests the Secretary-General to strengthen the child 
protection component of UNAMA, in particular through the 
appointment of child protection advisers; 
 
¶15. Stresses the importance of increasing, in a 
comprehensive framework, the functionality, 
professionalism and accountability of the Afghan security 
sector through training, mentoring and empowerment 
efforts, in order to accelerate progress towards the goal 
of self-sufficient and ethnically balanced Afghan security 
forces providing security and ensuring the rule of law and the 
respect for human rights throughout the country; 
 
¶16. Welcomes in this context the continued progress in the 
development of the Afghan National Army and its improved 
ability to plan and undertake operations, and encourages 
sustained training efforts, including through the 
Operational Mentoring and Liaison Teams (OMLTs), and 
advise in developing a sustainable defence planning 
process as well as assistance in defence reform 
initiatives; 
 
¶17. Calls for further efforts to enhance the capabilities 
of the Afghan National Police in order to reinforce the 
authority of the Afghan Government throughout the country, 
welcomes the increasing role played by the International 
Police Coordination Board in policy setting and 
coordination, and stresses the importance, in this 
context, of the contribution of the European Union through 
its police mission (EUPOL Afghanistan); 
 
¶18. Calls for further progress in the implementation by 
the Afghan Government, with support from the international 
community, of the programme of disbandment of illegal 
armed groups (DIAG); 
 
¶19. Expresses its concern at the serious harm that 
increasing opium cultivation, production and trafficking 
causes to the security, development and governance of 
Afghanistan as well as to the region and internationally; 
calls on the Afghan Government, with the assistance of the 
internatibnal community, to accelerate the implementation 
of the National Drug Control Strategy as discussed at the 
JCMB meeting held in Tokyo in February 2008, in particular 
 
at the local level, and to mainstream counter-narcotics 
throughout national programmes; encourages additional 
international support for the four priorities identified 
in that Strategy, including through contributions to the 
Counter Narcotics Trust Fund; 
 
 
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¶20. Calls upon States to strengthen international and 
regional cooperation to counter the threat to the 
international community posed by the illicit production 
and trafficking of drugs originated in Afghanistan, 
including through border management cooperation in drug 
control and cooperation for the fight against the illicit 
trafficking in drugs and precursors and against money 
laundering linked to such trafficking, taking into account 
the outcome of the Second Ministerial Conference on Drug 
Trafficking Routes from Afghanistan organized by the 
Government of the Russian Federation in cooperation with 
the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime held in 
Moscow from 26 to 28 June 2006 (S/2006/598), within the 
framework of the Paris Pact initiative, 
 
¶21. Welcomes the adoption by the Afghan authorities, in 
accordance with the outcome the Rome Conference on the 
Rule of Law in Afghanistan, of the National Justice 
Programme launched at the JCMB meeting held in Tokyo in 
February 2008, and stresses the importance of its full and 
timely implementation by all the relevant actors in order 
to accelerate the establishment of a fair and transparent 
justice system, strengthen the rule of law throughout the 
country and eliminate impunity; 
 
¶22. Stresses in this context the importance of further 
progress in the reconstruction and reform of the prison 
sector in Afghanistan, in order to improve the respect for 
the rule of law and human rights therein, 
 
¶23. Notes with concern the effects of widespread 
corruption on security, good governance, counter-narcotics 
efforts and economic development, and calls on the Afghan 
Government, with the assistance of the international 
community, to vigorously lead the fight against corruption 
and to enhance its efforts to establish a more effective, 
accountable and transparent administration; 
 
¶24. Encourages all Afghan institutions, including the 
executive and legislative branches, to work in a spirit of 
 
cooperation, calls on the Afghan Government to pursue 
continued legislative and public administration reform in 
order to ensure good governance, full representation and 
accountability at both national and sub-national levels, 
stresses the need for further international efforts to 
provide technical assistance in this area, and recalls the 
role of the Senior Appointments Panel in accordance with 
the Afghanistan Compact; 
 
24bis. Encourages the international community to assist 
the Government of Afghanistan in making capacity-building 
and human resources development a cross-cutting priority; 
 
¶25. Notes the leading role that the Afghan institutions 
will play in the organization of the next elections, 
encourages the Afghan Government, with support from the 
international community, to accelerate the planning and 
preparation of such elections, stresses the need to 
establish a permanent and accurate Civil Voter Registry (CVR) 
in accordance with the Afghanistan Compact, and emphasizes 
the importance of free, fair, inclusive and transparent 
elections in order to sustain the democratic progress of 
the country; 
 
¶26. Calls for full respect for human rights and 
fundamental freedoms and international humanitarian law 
throughout Afghanistan, notes with concern the increasing 
restrictions on freedom of media, commends the AIHRC for 
its courageous efforts to monitor respect for human rights 
in Afghanistan as well as to foster and protect these 
rights and to promote the emergence of a pluralistic civil 
society, and stresses the importance of full cooperation 
with the AIHRC by all relevant actors; 
 
¶27. Recognizes the significant progress achieved on gender 
equality in Afghanistan in recent years, strongly condemns 
continuing forms of discrimination and violence against 
women and girls, stresses the importance of implementing 
Security Council resolution 1325 (2000), and requests the 
Secretary-General to continue to include in its reports to 
 
SIPDIS 
the Security Council relevant information on the process 
of integration of women into the political, economic and 
social life of Afghanistan; 
 
¶28. Calls for enhanced efforts to ensure the full 
implementation of the Action Plan on Peace, Justice and 
 
Reconciliation in accordance with the Afghanistan Compact, 
without prejudice to the implementation of measures 
 
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introduced by the Security Council in its resolution 1267 
(1999) of 15 October 1999 and other relevant resolutions 
of the Security Council; 
 
¶29. Welcomes the cooperation of the Afghan Government and 
UNAMA with the Security Council's Committee established 
pursuant to resolution 1267 (1999) with the implementation 
of resolution 1735 (2006), including by identifying 
individuals and entities participating in the financing or 
support of acts or activities of Al-Qaida and the Taliban 
using proceeds derived from illicit cultivation, 
production and trafficking of narcotic drugs and their 
precursors, and encourages the continuation of such 
cooperation; 
 
¶30. Welcomes ongoing efforts by the Government of 
Afghanistan and its neighbouring and regional partners to 
foster trust and cooperation with each other, including 
recent cooperation initiatives developed by regional 
organizations, and stresses the importance of increasing 
cooperation between Afghanistan and the partners against 
the Taliban, Al-Qaida and other extremist groups, in 
promoting peace and prosperity in Afghanistan and in 
fostering cooperation in the economic and development 
sectors as a means to achieve the full integration of 
Afghanistan into regional dynamics and the global economy; 
 
30bis. Calls for strengthening the process of regional 
economic cooperation, including measures to facilitate 
regional trade, to increase foreign investments and to 
develop infrastructure, noting Afghanistan's historic role 
as a land bridge in Asia; 
 
¶31. Recognizes the importance of voluntary, safe, orderly 
return and sustainable reintegration of the remaining 
Afghan refugees for the stability of the country and the 
region, and calls for continued and enhanced international 
assistance in this regard; 
 
¶32. Requests the Secretary-General to report to the 
Council every six months on developments in Afghanistan, 
in addition to the report requested in paragraph 10 of 
this resolution; 
 
¶33. Decides to remain actively seized of the matter. 
 
End Draft Text. 
RICE