UN urges change of mindset in Afghanistan to ensure success

Jan 4, 2010, 19:46 GMT

New York - To succeed in Afghanistan, the international community and Kabul need to change their mindset on how to end the conflict in the war-torn nation, the United Nations said Monday.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in a report to both the UN General Assembly and Security Council that maintaining the status quo is a recipe for failure in Afghanistan.

An international conference is to be held in London on January 28, with a second one in Kabul, to review foreign assistance and Afghanistan's taking over of security responsibility from international forces now operating in that country.

'We are at a critical juncture,' Ban said in the report. 'The situation cannot continue as is if we are to succeed in Afghanistan.'

'There is a need for a change of mindset in the international community as well as in the government of Afghanistan,' Ban said. 'Without that change, the prospect of success will diminish further.'

The report called on Kabul and the international community to make the best use of the coming months 'in a concerted effort to focus on agreed priorities and to coordinate in a way that avoids waste of resources and is impact-oriented.'

One proposal is to reinforce international cooperation under the UN umbrella in Afghanistan, which is headed by Kai Eide, a Dutch diplomat. Eide has called for the appointment of a senior civilian official in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to improve coordination of political and development efforts.

ISAF, composed mostly of NATO troops, is responsible for security in Afghanistan but it has been criticized for causing high numbers of civilian deaths during military raids.

'I believe that in order to be successful, any form of international coordination must be properly linked to the government of Afghanistan,' Ban said emphasizing the need for a civilian coordination structure.

The report defended UN involvement in the presidential elections last September, in which President Hamid Karzai won a runoff after his rival withdrew. Both the UN and Kabul's electoral commission had denounced fraud during the electoral process.

The report rejected reports and analyses that condemned Kabul's state-building process because of the flawed elections.

'This is incorrect,' the report said. It said the fault remained in Afghanistan's weak state-building process, including the 'ongoing culture of impunity, the still inadequate security forces, corruption and the insufficient pace of institution-building, that undermined the electoral process.'

It said the flawed elections revealed in a snapshot what had not been achieved in Afghanistan.

'Despise the flaws, however, this is not a reason to abandon what has been achieved and what must now be built upon,' it said.