LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- The United Nations opposes the distribution of aid by military forces in Marja as plans develop to prop up an interim government in Helmand, officials said.
Afghan and international forces are advancing plans to install a government in the Afghan province of Helmand following several days of heavy fighting with Taliban insurgents.
Robert Watkins, the deputy special representative to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, said military aid deliveries "gives a very wrong signal to communities about the impartiality of this assistance and puts the lives of humanitarian workers at risk if they are in any way associated with the military," The Wall Street Journal reports.
Afghan and coalition forces are installing a new administration in the southern Helmand town of Marja as Operation Moshtarak enters a holding phase.
Frank Ruggiero, a U.S. civilian representative in southern Afghanistan, said a new administrator, Haji Zahir, will be installed along with a team of U.S. mentors. Top Afghan officials stopped briefly Wednesday in Helmand, meanwhile, in what coalition officials describe as a key step in the "clear, hold and build" counterinsurgency operation under way.
Mark Sedwill, NATO's civilian administrator in Kabul, said security was the primary objective before conventional reconstruction objectives move forward.
"You've got to try to bring the conflict to the end before you really start making progress on classic development goals," he said.
