UN News Service - The United Nations Security Council this morning extended the mandate of the four year-old United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), which expires 24 March, for an additional 12 months in order to continue assisting the Afghan leadership during the next phase of rebuilding the country.

Through a resolution adopted unanimously, the Council also welcomed the political progress that brought the previous phase of State-building under the Bonn Agreement to completion, including the inauguration of the new Afghan assembly.

The Council urged the Afghan Government and its partners to fully realize the Afghan Compact, a five-year framework agreed to in London at the end of January to help consolidate democratic institutions, curb insecurity, control the illegal drug trade, stimulate the economy, enforce the law, provide basic services to the Afghan people and protect their human rights.

Calling for UNAMA’s extension in his latest report on the mission, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Afghanistan continues to face enormous challenges in all those areas, highlighting security as the foremost among them.

Indeed, he added, without sustained support, there was danger of a relapse into conditions that plunged Afghanistan into decades of war.

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