UN slams latest terror attacks in Afghanistan
(AFP)
Updated: 2006-01-18 14:14

The UN Security Council slammed the latest terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, including one which killed a Canadian diplomat, and looked forward to an upcoming aid conference to fund the next stage of Afghan reconstruction.

After hearing a briefing from UN special representative in Afghanistan Jean Arnault, the 15-member body issued a statement condemning "in the strongest terms the terrorist attacks", claimed by the ousted Taliban regime, in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan, over the past three days.

Council members expressed their condolences to the governments and people of Afghanistan and Canada over their losses in the attacks.

Tanzania's UN envoy Augustine Mahiga, the council president for January, read the statement that made a special mention of 59-year-old Canadian diplomat Glyn Berry, who was killed in Sunday's car bombing in Kandahar.

Kandahar was the stronghold of the defunct Taliban regime which was ousted by a US-led coalition in late 2001.

The attacks were the latest in a wave of suicide bombings in the last five months aimed at US-led forces, their NATO allies and Afghan forces.

Analysts and some officials have said Afghan militants are apparently following the lead of rebels fighting US forces in Iraq with their use of suicide bombs and car bombs.

Mahiga noted that council members stressed that "the latest terrorist attacks once again underlined the necessity to improve security of the country" and reiterated that "no terrorist act can reverse the path toward peace and the reconstruction in Afghanistan."

Mahiga also said the council reaffirmed the importance of the London conference on Afghanistan scheduled for January 31 and February 1.

It said the conference aimed to provide "a solid framework for the next stage of the reconstruction of Afghanistan with Afghan ownership and international assistance."

US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton told reporters that his government planned to make "a major pledge in support of Afghan development" at the London conference and that other governments planned to do the same.