April 10, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 3, 1429

KABUL: The UN envoy to Afghanistan said on Wednesday that the world body’s new mandate for the country was “sharper” and that he would use it to coordinate international efforts to rebuild the troubled nation.

Norwegian diplomat Kai Eide assumed office as the UN super-envoy for war-torn Afghanistan two weeks ago after Kabul rejected the UN’s nomination of British politician Paddy Ashdown.

“I have the mandate that I believe is sufficient and is sharper than the mandate has been (before),” Eide told reporters in Kabul.

“I have the confidence of the Afghan authorities and the international community. Those are the tools that I need and those are the tools that I will make use of.”

He added: “What has happened in the past is not really relevant to me, to me what’s relevant is what we can do together to move forwards.” Eide said that chief among his tasks was to improve coordination between the Kabul government and various nations and agencies as well as foreign forces deployed here to fight a resurgent Taliban militia.

He said his tasks would also include ensuring coordination between civilian efforts and an ongoing military campaign

by tens of thousands of mainly Western troops deployed here.

“I worked for many years inside Nato,” Eide said, referring to his job as Norway’s permanent representative to the Nato in the past.

“I believe that they (Nato) will listen to me when I reflect what are our concerns from a political side and from a humanitarian side,” he added.

Efforts by the world community to rebuild Afghanistan after the ouster of the Taliban regime in a US-led invasion at the end of 2001 have been criticised as wasteful.

Aid agencies said in a report released last month that 40 per cent of international aid to Afghanistan returns to donor nations as profits and consultant costs, while two-thirds of what does arrive bypasses the government.

Despite the presence of a 70,000-strong foreign military deployment, the security, meanwhile, has worsened in the past two years with the Taliban stepping up attacks.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Tuesday that the violence which was mainly limited to the country’s south was spreading to the rest of Afghanistan.—AFP