The top UN official in Afghanistan says he will step down early next year after a rocky two-year tenure marked by a fraud-marred national election and a deadly Taliban attack on UN employees.
The departure of Norwegian diplomat Kai Eide provides an opportunity to restructure the civilian side of the international mission as the Obama administration’s military strategy kicks into gear.
The 60-year-old Eide, who oversees the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, said on Friday he would not renew his contract when it expires in March. He said he has asked UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to start searching for a replacement so the post would not be vacant like it was for two months before he started.
Eide’s stewardship was tarnished by allegations from his American deputy, Peter Galbraith, that he was not bullish enough in curbing fraud in the August presidential election. Afghan President Hamid Karzai was declared the winner three months later after his last remaining challenger dropped out of a runoff.
Eide said controversy over the election was not linked to his decision to leave.
The UN mission also is still reeling from a pre-dawn assault on Oct. 28 on a Kabul guesthouse where dozens of UN staffers lived.
Five UN workers were among those killed in the attack, which prompted the UN to relocate hundreds of employees, some outside Afghanistan.
In an interview, Eide said he had put forth a proposal that calls for better coordination of the civilian effort under the UN umbrella. It comes just after US President Barack Obama announced he is sending 30,000 more US troops to Afghanistan. Many of those troops, under the command of General Stanley McChrystal, will be on the ground about the time Eide steps aside.
“If we talk about a transition strategy, which we are with McChrystal’s theme, then we have to do the same on the civilian side,” Eide said.
Eide said he feared the military buildup ordered by Obama will increase pressure for quick results from civilian aid projects to satisfy taxpayers in donor countries when what is needed is to build up Afghanistan’s ability to sustain itself.
He said there is not enough expertise inside the UN system and that the civilian-military provincial reconstruction teams (PRT), were the most “uncoordinated part of the civilian effort.”
“You have a number of PRTs that do their own things within provinces,” Eide said. “They do not cross provincial boundaries nor are they linked up to the Afghan government the way they should be.”
Eide also lamented that while thousands of Afghan civil servants are being trained, it is hard to persuade them to take local official positions paying only between US$60 and US$70 a month.
“They say ‘Why should we?’ They don’t have cars. They don’t have offices,” Eide said. “They don’t have electricity. They might have a monthly operating budget of US$15 a month.”
Problems with the election, however, overshadowed much of Eide’s work. His handling of the controversy prompted the European-based International Crisis Group to call on Eide to resign, saying reports of fraud and ballot stuffing damaged the UN’s ability to function effectively, weakened internal morale and eroded Afghan confidence in him.
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