January 27, 2008	Sunday	Muharram 17, 1429

LONDON, Jan 26: President Hamid Karzai has blocked the appointment of a senior British politician as United Nations envoy to his country, the Times newspaper reported on Saturday.

Karzai does not want Paddy Ashdown in the job because Ashdown, the international community’s representative in Bosnia from 2002 to 2005, wanted too much power, the paper said, quoting unnamed diplomats.

A “well-placed” diplomat said that Ashdown’s candidacy was now “toast” in the face of Karzai’s opposition.

Ashdown, the former leader of Britain’s second opposition party the Liberal Democrats, declined to comment on the situation.

Many diplomats and commentators had expected him to be appointed to the job imminently and the United States said on Wednesday that he was a “good candidate”.

Karzai told US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Conservative leader David Cameron of his intention to block the appointment at this week’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the Times said.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told Karzai that Britain, which has over 6,000 troops in Afghanistan, was not trying to force Ashdown’s appointment and that it was a decision for the UN, it added.

Ashdown, a former marine, developed a reputation as a no-nonsense operator during his time in Bosnia, pushing through sensitive reforms and sacking 60 officials suspected of belonging to a support network for war crimes suspects in 2004.—AFP