New UN "super envoy" for Afstan

Not your Paddy Ashdown--hope he's up to it:

The United Nations named a little-known Norwegian diplomat as its special envoy for Afghanistan yesterday, weeks after its preferred candidate, Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, was rejected by President Hamid Karzai.

Kai Eide, a one-time UN envoy to the Balkans [January 1997 - January 1998], was named yesterday to the new “super envoy” post which the international community is heavily relying on to help co-ordinate efforts to lift Afghanistan out of its backward slide into insecurity.

The job has been surrounded in controversy since Lord Ashdown emerged as the front-runner, only to be shot down by Mr Karzai, apparently over the former Royal Marine’s demands for far-reaching powers.

Mr Ashdown’s rejection was met with dismay in diplomatic circles, who argued that only such respected figure could wield the influence required to reverse Afghanistan’s current decline.

But Mr Karzai, an increasingly weak figurehead seen by many as a puppet of the West, balked at the prospect of such a powerful mandate being handed to a foreigner of Lord Ashdown’s stature.

Specifically there were concerns that he would seek a mandate along the lines of that he had as High Comissioner to Bosnia, potentially undermining Mr Karzai’s fragile leadership...

Mr Eide was one of a handful of candidates left after Lord Ashdown’s withdrawal. John Manley, the former Canadian Deputy Prime Minister, had been regarded as another lead candidate, but he reportedly withdrew late last week [maybe just a bit earlier], apparently spooked by Lord Ashdown’s experience.

Norway, as a member of Nato, has 500 troops serving in Afghanistan, but so far all have been deployed to the relatively peaceful north. The US, as the lead military force in Afghanistan, is leaning heavily on its Nato allies to deploy more troops to the far more restive south, where the Taleban insurgency has been gaining ground, and now controls more than 10 percent of the country’s territory.

But here's a recent Norwegian baby step:

Norway's defence ministry said on Wednesday [Feb. 27] it would allow some of its soldiers stationed in Afghanistan to go to the south of the country where battles against the Taliban and al Qaeda have been the toughest.

Norway has about 500 troops in Afghanistan as part of the NATO mission there and has for months resisted pressure from its allies to send its soldiers to the volatile south.

But a group of 50 soldiers, to be sent to the war-torn state in October to help train the Afghan army, will be able to accompany Afghan troops into southern Afghanistan.

"This means that they can be sent throughout all of Afghanistan," ministry spokeswoman Solveig Dagfinrud said, when asked if troops would go into south Afghanistan.

"The government believes it is important to give ownership to the Afghan people, and the training of the Afghan army is one of such measures," Dagfinrud said...