October 04, 2008	Saturday	Shawwal 04, 1429

VIENNA, Oct 3: Afghanistan was elected to the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency on Friday after the rival candidate for the seat, Syria, agreed to pull out of the race.

“There is now consensus within the MESA (Middle East and South Asia) area on Afghanistan’s candidature for the board of governors for the single vacancy from the MESA area in 2008-2010,” the Indian delegate, who currently chairs the MESA group, told the assembly.

“Syria very kindly agreed to withdraw its candidature ... in the interests of maintaining the tradition of consensus candidatures for the board of governors and in order to facilitate the work of the conference.”

Both Syria and Afghanistan had been vying for the same seat on the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 35-member board that had come free for the Middle East and South Asia (MESA) group with the expiry of Pakistan’s one-year term.

But Syria’s bid had run into fierce opposition by the United States, which alleges that Damascus was building a covert nuclear facility at a remote desert site called Al-Kibar until it was destroyed by Israeli bombs in September last year.

Until the nuclear watchdog had completed its investigation of the claims, there was no place on the IAEA board, Washington argued.

Syria has come under fire from a number of countries during the week-long general conference here for its alleged foot-dragging in the IAEA probe.

Reacting to his appointment to the IAEA board, Afghanistan’s Permanent Representative to the agency, Wahid Monawar, said he was “humbled”.

“The IAEA’s efforts, both in security and in innovation, are critical to Afghanistan’s national development, and we are deeply committed to the work that the agency does worldwide,” he said.

“Afghanistan highly values its role as the new MESA group representative on the board. We will strive to represent the interests and needs of our neighbours, including improving development assistance and creating more stringent safeguards against regional proliferation.

“I look forward to working in partnership with other MESA group members in order to better understand their priorities with regards to the agency’s activities. I can assure you that Afghanistan will take its role on the board of governors with utmost gravity and dedication.”

A total of 11 board seats had been up for election at this year’s general conference, with all of the other 10 adopted by consensus at the end of the morning session. But the choice of the MESA group was postponed until late afternoon with speculation that the matter might have to be put to the vote of all 145 IAEA members.

A Western diplomat said Syria’s decision was “a victory for the credibility of the IAEA”.

“It would have been absurd to have a country on the board that is under investigation for suspected secret nuclear activities,” the diplomat said.

Afghanistan, which is now set to take up the position, “is a country that abides by its NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) commitment”.

The battle between Damascus and Kabul “was creating an unnecessary polemic”, the diplomat continued. “This isn’t the right time. There are too many important issues.”—AFP