A delegation from the UN Security Council is to undertake a fact-finding mission to Afghanistan late this month before attending a two-day retreat in Istanbul, diplomats said here Wednesday. Mexican Ambassador to the UN Claude Heller, who chairs the 15-member council this month, told a press briefing that the terms of the reference for the Afghan visit were still being worked out.

Heller, who will make the trip, would not specify dates for security reasons. But other diplomats said the visit was likely to last three or four days and would take place just before the 15-member delegation heads for Istanbul on June 24 for a two-day retreat hosted by the Turkish government. The Istanbul gathering was to focus on links between peacekeeping and peacebuilding, one diplomat said.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2010