Karzai blocks plan to give Ashdown key role in Afghanistan

[Marcus Marulus]

Karzai blocks plan to give Ashdown key role in Afghanistan


· Search resumes for UN special representative
· Kabul may have seen Briton as too forceful

Julian Borger, diplomatic editor
Monday January 28, 2008
The Guardian




The UN began looking for a new candidate yesterday to represent the international community in Afghanistan after Paddy Ashdown was forced to withdraw in the face of Afghan opposition.

The former Liberal Democrat leader's withdrawal is an embarrassment for Britain, the US and the UN, which had agreed on Ashdown's candidacy apparently without checking his acceptability to President Hamid Karzai and his government in Kabul.

Even after Karzai had raised objections last week, British officials assessed it as a minor glitch and confidently predicted Ashdown would be confirmed as the UN's special representative to Kabul within days. Former Foreign Office press officers had already been asked if they were interested in serving as his spokesman.

Ashdown told the BBC: "I wouldn't have dreamed of undertaking the job unless [Karzai] agreed that I should do so. After I saw the UN secretary-general [Ban Ki-Moon], we shook hands albeit over a telephone.

"Now something's happened that's changed his view. I think that's far more to do with Afghan internal politics than it has with the international community."

According to diplomatic sources, Karzai's objections grew as he learned more about Ashdown's record as the international community's high representative in Bosnia, where he had a reputation for being effective and assertive. Karzai was concerned a forceful and high-profile personality would eclipse the authority of his own government.

Ashdown said he never wanted the kinds of powers he had in Bosnia when negotiating the mandate for the Afghan job. "If they'd been offered, I would have rejected them," he said.

"The government of Afghanistan is a sovereign government, it's a proud nation, President Karzai is its president."

In a letter to Ban, Ashdown pointed out that he had not even sought the post, but had been persuaded by the US that he would have the required backing to do what he thought necessary to coordinate international support for the Kabul government. Ashdown also recalled that Ban had assured him, at a meeting in Madrid this month, that he had the support of Kabul. But in the light of reports of Afghan opposition, he had decided to pull out. "The task involved is difficult enough in any case," Ashdown wrote. "I just do not believe it is feasible in the face of opposition from the elected government of Afghanistan."

The foreign secretary, David Miliband, said in a statement: "The UK believes he was well-suited to this important role and would have done an excellent job. It is now imperative that the UN and the government of Afghanistan work together as quickly as possible to agree a suitable candidate to take on this key role."

In his withdrawal letter, Ashdown said he thought that Kabul opposed his appointment "partially based on my nationality and Britain's role in Afghanistan".

But senior Afghan officials have expressed interest in another Briton, General John McColl, who led the first international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan and was Britain's special envoy for the counter-narcotics effort there. He is Nato's deputy supreme commander in Europe.

The debacle over Ashdown's appointment came at a time of growing friction in the relationship between Kabul and Nato forces.

At the Davos economic summit last week, Karzai criticised British handling of Helmand province, which has seen fierce fighting. Analysts fear that unless there is better coordination among the donor countries, troop contributors and Kabul, the situation in Afghanistan could worsen significantly.

[source]