Two of Ireland's more senior soldiers are going to Afghanistan next week to see what help the Defence Forces could offer the International Security Assistance Force there. Jim Cusack reports on what the force has been doing
Despite the Government's commitment to contribute to the multi-national military force in Afghanistan, there appears to be uncertainty about what role it could fulfil.
The first reconnoitre mission takes place next week when the Army's Director of Operations, Col Gerry McNamara, and a senior officer from the Ordnance Corps travel by RAF to Kabul. The presence of the ordnance officer suggests that the military may be considering sending a bomb-disposal unit to serve with the multinational force.
The Republic is one of the few European states not to participate in the International Security Assistance Force and did not commit itself to participating when the agreement on setting up the forces was drawn up and signed by other states in March.
The other European nations participating include Britain, Denmark, Greece, Germany, Norway, Finland, Italy, Austria, Netherlands, Finland, Portugal, Spain Sweden, Belgium, Bulgaria and Romania. A further five non-European forces are participating.
So far the force strength is around 4,500. Increasingly it has found itself in operational difficulties as a result of the residual fighting from the US invasion as well as inter-tribal and anti-government action. Some 36 Americans have been killed as have at least 10 soldiers from other countries.
Fighting in the region is said to be increasing with some estimates putting casualties among local fighters and civilians at up to 60 a day.
There is concern about the security of small military units sent to participate in the mission and about bomb-disposal operations. At least nine such soldiers have died. Among the casualties were three Danish (which has a unit of only 48) and two Germans (out of a German contingent of about 450). The five were killed while trying to make safe Russian anti-aircraft missiles abandoned in a dump north of Kabul on March 6th which exploded. Another five soldiers were seriously injured.
The deaths were of concern to members of the Irish Defence Forces' Ordnance Corps because the Danish ordnance teams train in bomb-disposal with their Irish counterparts at the Curragh. The Defence Forces' bomb-disposal units are among the most experienced in the world because of their prolonged experience in dealing with improvised terrorist bombs at home and in dealing with standard munitions during 23 years in Lebanon.
It is understood there are concerns among Irish troops that sending a small, relatively unprotected unit to serve in an increasingly unstable Afghanistan could also lead to casualties. However, the Defence Forces are under some domestic political pressure to participate in the country.
On March 28th, the Ambassador to the UN, Mr Richard Ryan, said Ireland was "very concerned" that human rights should continue to be placed at the forefront of UN efforts in Afghanistan.
There should be "early progress" in creating a human rights commission in the country, he said. Ireland welcomed the profoundly positive transformation of the circumstances of women and girls in Afghanistan. It was also essential, he added, that the new government be able to extend its authority throughout the territory of Afghanistan; that it enhance its legitimacy and that it reinforce the importance of central authority.
Mr Ryan said Ireland appreciated the efforts of those contributing to the International Security Assistance Force in consolidating the stability of Kabul and its environs, permitting the return of substantial numbers of UN and other relief and reconstruction personnel.
In March, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, said it was imperative that the UN "must never disengage as we did in the past". He particularly identified the short-term needs of the interim authority to be respected, for a greater representation of the majority southern Pashtun tribes in government, for the need to deal with increased warlord activity.
While no formal request has come for Irish participation, the Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, has said at least three times that he would like to see members of the Defence Forces participating in some form of peacekeeping role in "post-Taliban" Afghanistan.
On a visit to Hong Kong for St Patrick's Day, he suggested such a request from the UN for assistance would be for a specialist service such as the Army Ranger wing. During a Dáil debate in January, he said the Republic would be well disposed to any UN request for assistance.
"In the long run I do see an opportunity for us to go there. If there is a request, then we would be looking at a very specialist group, perhaps in the Army Ranger Wing or bomb disposal."
AT PRESENT the Defence Forces' foreign peacekeeping missions include the 200- strong "guard and administrative company" with the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea. The next-largest deployment of Irish troops is the 103-strong transport unit in Kosovo, which has been in place for over two years. The only other significant mission is the 42-strong unit in East Timor.
Military sources say it is likely that a lightly armed force such as the highly trained infantry unit the Army Ranger Wing, could deploy. It is understood that within the Army, there is a feeling that if a bomb-disposal role was defined, there might at least be a need for a well-organised security element to protect it.
The Defence Forces have served in severe security conditions before, including Lebanon, where 17 soldiers were killed in action in the 1980s and early 1990s; Somalia where it had no casualties and in the Congo in 1963, when nine soldiers were killed in the Niemba ambush.
Under another agreement entered into by the State with the EU, the Defence Forces also have to provide a battalion-strength force in readiness for service with the European Rapid Reaction Force. This battalion has to be ready for service by the end of 2003.
Army sources say that there are insufficient resources to deploy two operation battalions - with a strength of at least 600 each - abroad simultaneously.
At least the Army may soon be better prepared for service in hostile environments. By next year it will have taken delivery of 40 armoured personnel carriers, with a further 25 shortly to be ordered. It will also have a fleet of smaller tactical support vehicles.
Jim Cusack is Security Editor of The Irish Times