Afghan

Alain Le Roy, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations

Time for shift to greater Afghan responsibility for peace and stability – UN official

18 March 2010
The time has come to transform the relationship between Afghanistan and its partners to enable greater responsibility on the part of Afghans themselves and an increasingly supporting role for the international community as the country strives to achieve peace and development, a senior United Nations official said today.

Afghan reconciliation process must respect constitutional order, Ban says

16 March 2010
Cautioning against a militarization of the overall effort towards greater peace and democracy in Afghanistan, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says there is growing consensus for a political process to end the conflict, as well as for the establishment of a programme to reintegrate low- and mid-level insurgents who wish to give up fighting.
Child being vaccinated against Polio in Afghanistan

Nearly 8 million Afghan children to benefit in latest UN polio vaccination drive

15 March 2010
United Nations agencies and the Afghan health ministry are conducting a three-day campaign aimed at vaccinating an estimated 7.7 million children under the age of five against polio.
Staffan de Mistura

Top UN official for Afghanistan arrives in Kabul to begin work

13 March 2010
The experienced international diplomat Staffan de Mistura arrived on Saturday in Kabul to take up his post as the top United Nations official in Afghanistan, saying he was starting work at a “very critical period in Afghan history.”
Special Representative Kai Eide addresses final press conference in Kabul

World must enhance understanding of Afghanistan, says outgoing UN envoy

4 March 2010
Success in Afghanistan hinges on a better understanding of Afghan society by the world and the assumption of greater responsibility by its authorities, the outgoing United Nations envoy there said today.

UN condemns deadly attack in Afghan capital

26 February 2010
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the United Nations mission in Afghanistan have strongly condemned today's attacks in Kabul which caused the death and injury of many Afghan and foreign residents and for which the Taliban claimed responsibility.
Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, in Kabul

Afghanistan: UN official urges steps to prevent child deaths in conflict

24 February 2010
A senior United Nations human rights official today called on international troops fighting militants in Afghanistan to follow directives designed to guard against civilian deaths, drawing particular attention to the plight of children caught up in the conflict.
UN Photo/Steve Tickner
UN Photo/Steve Tickner

UN studying proposed Afghan electoral decree

24 February 2010
The United Nations is currently studying a legislative decree that would give Afghan President Hamid Karzai the power to appoint all five members of the country’s Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC), which is supposed to be an independent body.
Kai Eide, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan

Top UN envoy to Afghanistan calls for greater political effort to end conflict

23 February 2010
The outgoing United Nations envoy to Afghanistan today warned that – on its own – the massive United States-led military push in Taliban strongholds in southern Helmand province will not bring peace and stability to the country.
Robert Watkins, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan

Latest loss of Afghan lives prompts UN call for safeguarding civilians

22 February 2010
A top United Nations official in Afghanistan has repeated the world body’s call for all parties to the conflict to avoid civilian casualties, after an international military operation on Sunday reportedly killed at least 27 people, including women and children, in the southern province of Uruzgan.