PEACE & SECURITY | Creating a more stable world
04 April 2008
U.N. Chief Pledges Long-Term Effort in Afghanistan
Disengagement would be more costly than long-term engagement
Washington –- The United Nations will not leave Afghanistan as long as its presence is needed by the Afghan people, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon tells NATO leaders and representatives from other international organizations.
The urgency of the mission to secure peace and stability for Afghanistan brought together representatives from the United Nations, European Union and World Bank at a special meeting April 3 at the NATO Summit in Bucharest, Romania.
Following the NATO Summit, the next major opportunity for international focus on Afghanistan will come in June during an international donors’ conference in Paris.
Ban expressed confidence in the new political-military strategy NATO has developed to provide the alliance’s International Security Assistance Force with a more comprehensive approach in Afghanistan.
That strategy, he said, must tackle the underlying issues that have prevented past collective efforts from achieving the desired degree of success in the Afghan nation. He acknowledged that his organization has not been as effective in coordinating international community activities in Afghanistan as it should be and he promised a better future result.
That goal will be accomplished partly through his new special representative for Afghanistan, Ambassador Kai Eide of Norway, who accompanied the secretary-general to Bucharest. Eide knows the inner workings of both the alliance and the United Nations and is an experienced diplomat with keen knowledge of Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, Ban said. Eide will head the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).
Effective international coordination is so important, Ban said, since the participants do not always have a clear, big picture of what is going on. Ban also faulted those who do not provide consistent advice to their Afghan counterparts and who put self-interest above Afghan interests.
“We must make a more serious effort to ensure aid is driven by Afghan needs and we must focus on those areas where each of us has specific expertise and capabilities adding value to the work of others rather than duplicating it,” he said.
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer invited Ban to address the special meeting, which provided the U.N. secretary-general the additional opportunity to meet privately with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, de Hoop Scheffer and representatives from Sweden, Romania, France, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
He paid tribute to Karzai as the president seeks to preside over a nation striving to be economically and politically stable, free from terrorism and respectful of human rights. Ban also pointed to significant progress that has been achieved in Afghanistan in the past six years including sharply declining infant and maternal mortality rates, a much improved transportation infrastructure and higher school enrollments.
DISENGAGEMENT WOULD COST MORE THAN ENGAGEMENT
Ban talked to de Hoop Scheffer, Karzai and others about the need for greater troop commitments to secure Afghanistan and facilitate the work of provincial reconstruction teams. He also wanted to impress on everyone the continuing need for international efforts there for the long haul, saying “the cost of disengagement would be far greater than ... engagement.”
The international community has to remain engaged until the Afghan government can stand on its own, he said. France announced April 3 that it will send an additional battalion of troops to Afghanistan, and Canada announced separately that it will keep its current level of troops in the country.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates confirmed April 4 that the United States also will send additional forces to Afghanistan in 2009 to support the NATO-led security mission.
In his remarks, Ban cited continuing violence and militancy in various parts of the country. Anti-government elements have caused broader and longer-lasting damage to Afghanistan than initially anticipated, he acknowledged.
Besides the problems caused by drug trafficking, the secretary-general also flagged the problem of pervasive corruption in Afghanistan. Success in these areas can be achieved only by addressing underlying issues, he said.
The Afghan government-international community partnership has to work harder to meet its mission to change the lives of a larger percentage of the population, especially in the rural areas, the U.N. official said.
He also warned that the insurgency has achieved some gains due to “weak results from international assistance and of the shortfalls of Afghan governance.”
