World | Afghanistan
UN ambassador says it is time to talk to Taliban
Admits he has no illusions about complexities of negotiating peace
- AP
- Published: 00:00 March 5, 2010
Kabul: The head of the UN mission in Afghanistan said yesterday that it's "high time" a political solution is found with the Taliban to resolve the more than eight-year-old conflict.
"It's time to talk," Kai Eide said.
In his last news conference as the UN representative, Eide said he hoped a spring peace jirga — or conference — that Afghan President Hamid Karzai is organising would result in a national consensus for peace that the entire nation could rally around.
In a wide-ranging news conference at the heavily secured UN compound, Eide said he has always been behind a policy of engagement, but has no allusions about the complexities of negotiating peace with Taliban leaders.
He also said he would continue his push for electoral reform following Karzai's decree last week giving the Afghan the authority to appoint members of a formerly independent Electoral Complaints Commission.
The panel, which monitors election fraud, was previously dominated by UN appointees, who uncovered massive fraud in last year's presidential election. Eide said he met with Karzai yesterday morning to ensure a fairer ballot during parliamentary elections this autumn.
"We have made some progress, for instance with regard to international participation in the Electoral Complaints Commission," Eide said.
Eide, a Norwegian diplomat, is stepping down after a two-year tenure marked by a Taliban attack that killed five UN workers at a hotel in the capital, Kabul.
His stewardship was also tarnished by allegations from his American deputy, Peter Galbraith, that he was not bullish enough in curbing the fraud in the August presidential election. Karzai was declared the winner three months later after his last remaining challenger dropped out of a scheduled runoff.
Eide has denied that the poll controversy was linked to his decision not to renew his two-year contract.
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