Powell: U.N. unlikely to tackle post-Taliban peacekeeping

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell acknowledged Thursday that the United Nations is reluctant to take on peacekeeping duties in a post-Taliban Afghanistan, apparently ending U.S. hopes that such a force could eventually be deployed there.

Appearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Powell said U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan and Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N. special representative for Afghanistan, have expressed doubts about committing U.N.-sponsored troops to the country. Brahimi has said publicly that the Afghan public is unlikely to cooperate with a foreign military force.

Nevertheless, Powell said that some sort of peacekeeping force would be required to keep order if the U.S.-led military campaign against Afghanistan topples the Taliban regime.

With the Pentagon conceding this week that the Taliban is proving a formidable foe that will not be easily dislodged, the effort to create a postwar government seems to be easing. Last week, the State Department’s top diplomatic strategist for Afghanistan, Richard Haass, met several times with Brahimi to discuss the issue.

Brahimi left little doubt the United Nations is unwilling to wade into another potential quagmire like its ill-fated effort to end the brutal ethnic war in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the 1990s.

After the massacre of at least 7,000 Muslim men and boys in a U.N.-patrolled “safe haven,” a NATO-led force intervened. The alliance’s action set the stage for talks that led to 1995 peace accords.

If a U.N.-sponsored force is ruled out for Afghanistan, Powell said Thursday it may be possible to create a coalition of willing governments to take on the role. Turkey has volunteered to organize peacekeepers, mostly from Muslim countries. U.S. officials believe that could be more acceptable to many Afghans.

Powell said the first order of business is to defeat the present regime. “Taliban must be removed” from power, he said.