New UN mission chief in Kabul after tough year

By Peter Graff

KABUL, March 13

A new United Nations mission chief arrived in Kabul on Saturday to take up his post after a difficult year that saw the mission divided over election fraud and forced to cut back staff after a deadly attack.

Italian-Swedish diplomat Staffan De Mistura, who has previously held the same role in Iraq, promised to help improve the lives of ordinary Afghans while respecting the sovereignty of their government.

"The Afghan people have suffered a lot and have endured a lot of difficult times. They deserve international support, but they deserve above all a better future. And the U.N. will do its part," he told reporters at Kabul's airport after his arrival.

"I am totally aware of the fact that the Afghan people are very proud people, very attached to their own sovereignty and independence, and I will be working along those lines," he said.

"Whatever the UN.will be doing -- and we will be doing what we can in order to assist both the stability and the socio-economic improvement of the Afghan people -- it will be done remembering that it should be Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and in total respect of their own sovereignty."

The U.N. mission in Kabul suffered last year from a public quarrel between its outgoing head, Norwegian diplomat Kai Eide, and his American deputy, Peter Galbraith, who accused Eide of trying to cover up massive fraud in the vote that ultimately saw President Hamid Karzai re-elected.

Eide denied trying to cover up fraud and Galbraith was fired.

In the end, a five-member watchdog that included three members appointed by Eide threw out nearly a third of votes cast for Karzai, forcing a second-round run-off which was cancelled when Karzai's opponent withdrew.

Days before the second round was cancelled, militants stormed a UN guest house in Kabul, killing five UN staff. The mission evacuated hundreds of staff members and sharply cut back its presence in Kabul.

Political pressure is not likely to let up this year, with a parliamentary election now due in May. Karzai is insisting that he be allowed to name the members of the elections watchdog, although his spokesman Waheed Omer said on Saturday he might include two foreigners as a minority on the five-member panel.

Donor countries, which Afghanistan relies on strongly, say they would like to see reforms to the election process before they agree to pay for the vote to be held.

The UN could also see its role in Afghanistan slip further as Washington sends hundreds of additional civilians to manage its own aid projects under President Barack Obama's escalation strategy announced last year.

The mostly-American NATO-led military force in Afghanistan, now numbering 120,000 and expanding to nearly 150,000 this year, named a new civilian chief last month to coordinate civilian efforts among countries with troops on the ground.

-Reuters