The top United Nations envoy to Afghanistan has urged US officials to commit to more American involvement in a peacekeeping force in post-Taliban Afghanistan, the Washington Postreported today.
Mr Lakhdar Brahimi said in a interview with the paper that he felt encouraged by talks with White House and State Department officials on Friday in which he advocated ambitious US military commitment for the new government in the Central Asian nation.
"It's very difficult to have a major peace operation in Afghanistan without the Americans being involved," he told the newspaper. The US has previously ruled out providing troops for the force, which is currently British-led.
Called the International Security Assistance Force, the force is not a United Nations operation and is being funded by contributors, mainly from Europe.
Mr Brahimi asked the 15-member Security Council last week to consider urgently expanding foreign forces to help keep the peace in Afghanistan.