KABUL (Reuters) - A reconnaissance team from 12 nations contributing to a security force in Kabul began inspecting the war-torn Afghan capital city Wednesday as British troops prepared a base for the peacekeeping operation.
The 25-strong team from Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, Greece, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Romania met British troops at the force's headquarters in a dilapidated former sports club in the center of Kabul.
About 300 British troops have now moved into the base to prepare for a U.N.-mandated International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), under British General John McColl, backing the interim government that replaced the Taliban.
``Today marks the arrival of the multinational recce party from all the troop-contributing nations that intend to place forces into the International Security Assistance Force,'' said British Colonel Richard Barrons, chief of staff at the ISAF headquarters.
``They will spend the next two days or so traveling around Kabul ... to understand the operation we intend to run and to have a look at where their forces will be based,'' he told reporters.