Afghanistan: “EU police force must be beefed up”, says Ettore Sequi

The EU's special representative in Afghanistan, Ettore Francesco Sequi, called for EUPOL, the EU police mission in Afghanistan, to be strengthened, when he addressed Members of the EP Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday. MEPs questioned him about the country's internal security and the ballot fraud that tarnished the elections held on 20 August this year.

In his first appearance before MEPs, Mr Sequi, the EU's high representative for both Afghanistan and Pakistan since June 2009, appealed to the Member States to give greater resources to EUPOL.  The purpose of this mission, which began operations in June 2007, is to “set up a real police force capable of conducting investigations”, said the high representative.

Afghanisation of the security forces?

“The EU must maintain a presence in Afghanistan but some areas must gradually be managed by the Afghans themselves.  'Afghanisation' of the security forces is one of the conditions needed to improve the situation on the ground”, said Mr Sequi in reply to Thijs Berman (S&D, NL), chair of the EP delegation for relations with Afghanistan, who asked what the high representative meant by 'Afghanisation'.

Heidi Hautala (Greens/EFA, FI), chair of the EP Human Rights Subcommittee, stressed that the EU mission must “devote more attention to the training of the Afghan police in human rights and to the situation of women in the country”.

Mr Sequi said that “since 2007 the insecure areas have grown and the insurgents have established a foothold in zones previously considered safe”.  Replying to questions by Gabriele Albertini (EPP, IT), chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Mr Sequi also argued for a process of inter-Afghan reconciliation to bring together the various factions that have been in dispute in recent years.

More generally, he emphasised the “institutional dimension of security”, and pointed out that “the absence of service provision by the local state enables the Taliban to flourish”.

Electoral fraud

“There were irregularities” in the elections held in August this year, said Mr Sequi.  However, he did not wish to speculate on the scale of the fraud. “I do not want to undermine in advance the outcome of the assessment” currently being carried out by the Afghan Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC).

“If a second round were to take place, it must be held before the end of October”, the period when climate conditions in this mountainous country deteriorate, said the high representative.

He also described as “very dignified” the electoral campaign of outgoing president Hamid Karzai, who was declared the winner of the elections with 54.6% of the votes against 27.8% for his main rival, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah.

EU health campaigns

And lastly, “the EU's work in the field of health is a success: 80% of Afghans today have access to basic health services”, said Mr Sequi in reply to Raimon Obiols (S&D, ES), who asked about the European contribution to the provision of health care and food, which are the main concerns for the Afghan people.