AFGHANISTAN - Dec. 18 - Rabbani Supporters Oppose British-Led Peacekeeping Force.

Hashmatullah Moslih, adviser to former president Burhanuddin Rabbani, says the UK should not lead any multinational peacekeeping force. He says Afghans have long memories of British colonialism, adding: "We don't see why they are so adamant to lead the forces - we think the Germans are better candidates. We all know there are still Afghan guns hanging on the walls of houses in England which they hold as souvenirs of the occupation". (His comments come one day before the announcement by British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon that the UK will lead a multinational peacekeeping force and has committed 1,500 troops for three months' service). Moslih says the peacekeeping force as envisaged by London is in breach of the recent Bonn agreement on setting up a new government. He says the Bonn agreement called for a UN-mandated force. "If the Bonn agreement can be reinterpreted by the outside world, then it can be reinterpreted by inside forces as well", he says. (Rabbani and his supporters are a declining power in a new Afghanistan, but Moslih's views nonetheless reflect widespread unease across the domestic political spectrum about foreign troops).