Press encounter following adoption of Security Council resolution 1378 on Afghanistan, (unofficial transcript)

SG: I think the [Security] Council, once again, has acted very quickly, and we have a formal basis for moving forward. We have done quite a bit of contingency planning and now Mr. Brahimi is doing his best to bring the parties together as quickly as we can. We are beginning to send our staff back into Afghanistan to continue their humanitarian and other work and to provide whatever service and assistance that we can provide. So in the next few days you will see the UN staff streaming back into Afghanistan to do their work.

Of course, we never stopped our work. We have a very large Afghan staff who had maintained the operations. I think we are going to have to rely on them, and increase the number of staff that we have. As we recruit new staff, I hope we will be able to recruit as many women as possible to join the ranks of UN staff.

Q: Mr. Vendrell [is going into Kabul when?]

SG: Yes, he should be there by Friday, with about a little over a dozen, or about 17 of them will be going in on Friday.

Q: Seventeen what?

SG: Of UN staff.

Q: En francais, quel est l'importance de cette resolution?

SG: Je viens de repondre.

Q: What about security, who's going to handle that? Isn't that going to be a problem?

SG: Well, I think the coalition, I hope, given their contacts with the Northern Alliance, can make some interim, short-term arrangements to permit us to continue with our work. I think the situation in some of the cities from the reports reaching us is under control and I hope that things will clarify as we move forward. But since we do not have any military presence on the ground, we will have to rely on those who are on the ground. Thank you very much. *****