More support needed for Afghanistan: UN envoy

Jul 24, 2007, 11:55 GMT

Berlin - The UN's top envoy for Afghanistan called Tuesday for more support from the international community to ensure the success of the country's post-conflict reconstruction.

Nations actively involved in rebuilding Afghanistan need to stick to their goals, UN special representative Tom Koenigs said after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.

He called for 'robust' efforts to push forward with the democratization process in the landlocked Asian nation, even if this meant resorting to military force.

He said it was vital for the country's future to ensure that the Taliban resurgence in the south of the country was thwarted by the NATO-led international peacekeeping force ISAF.

'The threat is not yet over,' said Koenigs, warning of a danger to the stability of Afghanistan's neighbours, including Pakistan.

Merkel pledged that Germany would maintain its commitment to Afghanistan, where Taliban rebels are holding a German engineer hostage after another German died in their captivity this week.

A government spokesman said the body of the man was expected to be flown back to Germany on Wednesday so that an autopsy could be conducted in Cologne on Thursday. There were conflicting reports of whether he was shot or died of a heart attack.

Reports reaching Kabul on Wednesday said the surviving hostage was in poor health and with no access to medical treatment. The two engineers and five Afghans were seized Wednesday amid demands by the kidnappers that Germany pull out of Afghanistan.

   The German government rejected the demand and the rebels later sought the release of 10 Taliban fighters from Afghan detention.

   There are 3,000 German troops deployed in northern Afghanistan on provincial reconstruction missions. There are also six German Tornado warplanes carrying out surveillance missions for the ISAF.