Saturday, September 11, 2010

AFGHAN COORDINATING UNIT - WHY AND HOW

It is mandatory for NATO and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA) to create a “Bridging Organization” (Afghan Coordinating Unit - ACU) that will have a lasting presence. It must not be established as a “Token” gesture, but as a fully endowed operational entity capable of planning, implementing, clearing, and Coordinating “all” operations both within Afghanistan and the extended Region. Within the Afghan Coordination Unit, the first step in planning will be the recognition, identification, and quantification of all the problems. The Military and Security needs are another class of problems. To be successful, a third category — cross-border and other third-party problems — must be integrated into the planning. This last will require serious inputs and actions from the Intelligence Agencies of many countries.

Read more in Policy Paper prepared especially for 5th GLOBSEC Security Conference by ABDUL JALIL GHAFOORY, Embassy of Afghanistan to the United States, at : http://www.ata-sac.org/globsec2010/uploads/documents/Abdul%20Jalil%20Ghafoory%20-%20Afghan%20Coordinating%20Unit%20-%20Why%20and%20How.pdf

1 comment:

DBennett said...

A proactive Afghan organization designed to handle cross-border third-party threats to stability sounds like another way of saying Afghanistan should be handling business in Pakistan. This responsibility is currently being handled by US drones and Pakistani commandos, but eventually it will have to be by Afghanistan and Pakistan. Unfortunately one of the most sophisticated and expensive intelligence agencies, with all the backing and logistical aid of the Western world behind it, is having a tough time doing exactly what this proposed Afghan Coordinating Unit would be tasked with. If the logistical and structural challenges aren't enough then the necessity of cooperating with Pakistan is. The threat of a stable and assertive Afghanistan is one of reasons why Pakistan continues to covertly undermine all allied efforts to provide peace and stability in the region. Its unlikely that Pakistan decides to stop supporting the Taliban just because the actual soldiers hunting them are now Afghans instead of NATO forces.