U.N.'s Envoy To Afghanistan Sees Threats To Progress

A fragmented international effort and weak government in Kabul have combined to endanger everything that has been accomplished in Afghanistan since the ouster of the Taliban nearly seven years ago, the new U.N. envoy to Afghanistan said yesterday.

Norwegian diplomat Kai Eide said he sees "some hopeful signs" after his first visit to Afghanistan and talks with European and U.S. leaders. But he said the overall effort remains "under-resourced" and uncoordinated.

"I think there is a growing recognition that it is urgent," Eide said. "We all see that if we don't bring a basis of good government and rule of law" to Afghanistan, progress on the military and development front will be unsustainable, he said.

The post Eide took over last month had been vacant since the end of last year. Afghan President Hamid Karzai rejected Paddy Ashdown -- the British politician initially selected for the job of coordinating among international military and civilian activities and the Afghan government -- on the grounds that he would exercise too much influence over Kabul's decision-making.

In an interview, and in a speech here yesterday at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Eide emphasized the need to let Afghans make their own decisions.

"I profoundly believe that it is their country and they know it better than we ever will," he said.

While there has been progress in health and education services, he said, police training, government capacity-building and agriculture still need more resources.

Efforts by individual donors duplicate each other or overlap, and too many aid projects are tied to purchases and decision-making in the West.

U.S. and NATO forces have scored tactical victories against a resurgent Taliban but have failed to prevent the Pakistan-based extremists from expanding their hold over rural areas.

Opium poppy cultivation, which finances both the Taliban and corrupt Afghan officials, has increased in some areas as violence and drought have diminished food supplies.

Security in many areas remains problematic, even without major combat; Karzai himself narrowly escaped a Taliban attack in Kabul on Sunday that killed three people.

The Bush administration has made little headway in persuading NATO governments to increase the number of combat troops they contribute to the international force in Afghanistan.

Eide, while agreeing that security must be improved, said he also expects donor governments to expand and make better use of economic and development assistance, and better coordinate their efforts in line with an Afghan development plan that is to be presented at an international conference in Paris in June.

Despite its long skepticism of U.N. involvement in both Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bush administration has become eager in recent years to increase the international profile in both countries.

Eide's Washington visit has been given high priority, including a daytime meeting and dinner with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday and a White House visit with President Bush today.

"It is a tough job," Rice said of Eide's mission. "We understand that."