The UN Security Council has authorized a multinational force to help keep the peace in the Afghan capital of Kabul, with Britain leading the troops and the United States prepared to rescue them in an emergency.
The 15-member council voted unanimously just two days before a vanguard of some 250 British soldiers will be deployed on Saturday. Afghanistan's new interim government, with Mr Hamid Karzai as prime minister, is to be sworn in on the same day.
The initial mandate for the new force, called the International Security Assistance Force or ISAF, is for six months, subject to renewal and is under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which allows the use of force. The contingents are to help guard government buildings to ensure the new Afghan interim government has a chance to end 22-years of warfare.
But the resolution does not give any troop numbers, which Britain estimates could eventually reach 5,000 with NATO members France, Turkey, Italy, Canada, Spain and possibly Germany among the early arrivals. The US military will be in overall charge in case of a conflict and would help rescue the new troops in an emergency.
The new force was established in principle for Kabul and its environs as part of a UN-brokered landmark accord, signed on December 5th in Bonn among anti-Taliban Afghan groups. The agreement set up an interim government, to be followed by a transitional government and elections called for in two years.