The U.N. in Afghanistan

12/31/2009
New York Times
Original Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/01/opinion/01fri2.html

Americans don’t hear a lot about the top United Nations representative in Afghanistan, but the job is a critically important one. The mission’s responsibilities include strengthening governance, combating corruption, monitoring and protecting human rights and assuring fair and independently supervised elections.

The current representative, Kai Eide, has been a disappointment. He has been too quiet about President Hamid Karzai’s corrupt associates and too tolerant of the lax accounting practices at United Nations development programs. He was too slow, even slower than Washington, to condemn Mr. Karzai’s blatant rigging of the August presidential election. Mr. Eide has announced that he will be leaving soon. Choosing the right successor is vitally important. Securing and rebuilding Afghanistan is an international, not just an American, responsibility. Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general, is currently considering three candidates: Staffan de Mistura of Sweden, Jean-Marie Guéhenno of France and Ian Martin of Britain. Of these, we believe Mr. Guéhenno has most clearly demonstrated the qualities necessary for what is a very tough job.

The next representative must be someone who can work smoothly with the top NATO commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal of the United States, and Washington’s ambassador, Karl Eikenberry. The representative must also have an independent mind and enough international stature to challenge them if they’re going wrong, and must be strong enough to stand up to President Karzai when necessary — and diplomatic enough to work with him. 

He must demand tighter accounting from United Nations development agencies. And he must be willing and able to goad Security Council members to back up their fine resolutions with additional pledges of badly needed peacekeepers, trainers, civilian specialists and long-term development aid. 

Mr. Guéhenno amply demonstrated many of the right qualities when he served as under secretary general for peacekeeping operations from 2000 to 2008. He took over a discredited and demoralized department and rebuilt it. He also built a productive relationship with Washington (not easy during the George W. Bush years) and other Security Council members. 

Mr. de Mistura has worked for the United Nations for nearly 40 years, serving in Bosnia, Kosovo, Somalia, Rwanda, Lebanon, Afghanistan and, from 2007 to 2009, as the top United Nations official in Iraq. That’s an impressive range of experience, but we are concerned that his low-key style and bureaucratic instincts are not the ones needed now in Afghanistan. Mr. Martin, who has held senior positions with the United Nations in Nepal and East Timor and led Amnesty International, is an effective advocate, but he lacks Mr. Guéhenno’s stellar international stature. Either could grow into the top Afghan job. Mr. Guéhenno is ready for it today.