Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS, 17 October 2003 — In a victory for the United States, the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution yesterday aimed at attracting more troops and money to stabilize Iraq and put the war-battered country on the road to independence.

US officials on Wednesday were concerned that after six weeks of intense US diplomatic campaigning, the resolution might get only the minimum nine “yes” votes needed for adoption.

But in a final day of intense lobbying, led by US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Washington picked up support from key opponents of the US-led war against Iraq — France, Russia and Germany. A day earlier, the three countries had failed to get the United States to include a timetable for restoring Iraq’s sovereignty in the resolution.

The United States also won backing from China and Pakistan, and finally and most surprisingly, from Syria, the only Arab state on the Security Council and a staunch opponent of the US-led war. Earlier yesterday, a US official had said an abstention by Syria, rather than a vote against, would be “a huge win.”

Calling the vote “a great achievement,” Powell said “We have come together to help the Iraqi people and put all of our differences of the past in the past.”

Germany, France and Russia announced after a 45-minute conversation among their leaders earlier in the day that they would vote in favor of the resolution in a bid to bring international solidarity to the reconstruction effort.

The announcement by German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder at a European Union summit in Brussels marked a dramatic shift by the three countries. “We agreed that the resolution is really an important step in the right direction,” Schroeder said after the conference call with presidents Jacques Chirac of France and Vladimir Putin of Russia.

Powell said the resolution will assist countries interested in providing troops by putting a multinational force under UN mandate.

But Pakistan ruled out sending troops to Iraq. “Pakistan will not be able to contribute troops for the multinational force in Iraq,” the country’s UN ambassador, Munir Akram, told the Council after the vote.