Top UN envoy calls for &#39demilitarized&#39 international approach in Afghanistan

The international community must demilitarize its overall approach in Afghanistan to ensure sustainable gains in the political and humanitarian realms, the outgoing top United Nations envoy to the South Asian nations said today. &#8220We have to get into a mode where our strategy is politically driven and not militarily driven, where the political and civilian components become an appendix to a military strategy,&#8221 Kai Eide, the Secretary-General&#39s Special Representative, said in the capital, Kabul. He will address the Security Council this week for the last time as the world body&#39s top official in Afghanistan on what he expects in the coming months for the country. One of the top objectives of the influx of troops this year is to boost the Afghan military&#39s capacity, he told reporters today. &#8220I am deeply skeptical [of] a situation where we have an increase of military forces and that increase of military forces engages in political, civilian and humanitarian issues,&#8221 Mr. Eide said, stressing that an increased number of forces means that they try to demonstrate &#8220quick results.&#8221 But, he emphasized, &#8220quick impact very often becomes quick collapse.&#8221 Afghanistan&#39s Government must initiate a peace process based on compromise as swiftly as possible, the envoy said, adding that participation by insurgents will increase the prospect of gradual troop withdrawals. He also said that while he respects the Independent Election Commission&#39s decision to follow Afghanistan&#39s constitution by holding parliamentary elections as early as May, he voiced concern over the limited time available to hold the polls, especially since last year&#39s presidential and provincial council elections were marked by fraud and insecurity. &#8220For me... it is important that a real reform process takes place before the next elections,&#8221 the Special Representative said. This weekend, Afghan politicians rejected most of the names put forward by President Hamid Karzai for his new cabinet, and Mr. Eide called this a &#8220political setback, in the sense that it prolongs the situation without a functioning government.&#8221 Later this month, an international conference on Afghanistan &#8211 the result of a joint European proposal by the United Kingdom, France and Germany &#8211 will be held in London, which Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has characterized as a &#8220a very timely opportunity to discuss the country&#39s agenda in the wake of the presidential elections which re-elected Mr. Karzai after his opponent, Abdullah Abdullah, withdrew from the run-off round. Another high-level conference is also scheduled to be held in Kabul in several months.