The departing U.N. envoy to Afghanistan said Thursday that the nation's leaders must "clean up their own house" and warned that U.S.-led military operations must not jeopardize political efforts toward reconciliation with the Taliban.
At a news conference marking the end of his 18-month term, Kai Eide said there was hope for the nation but the world needed more resolve from President Hamid Karzai's government. He criticized Afghanistan for a lack of reform and the international community for "fast-ticking clocks" and unrealistic demands.
His overall assessment: "This year, of course, will be the most challenging that Afghanistan has faced since the fall of the Taliban. . . . It's a year where negative trends have to be reversed, or they will become irreversible."
Eide said he was encouraged by Karzai's invitation to the Taliban to attend a peace conference this year. That proposal comes as the militant group has been weakened by the arrests of leaders and the recent U.S.-led military sweep that pushed its fighters from a stronghold in the southern province of Helmand.
"I think it's high time that we get into this kind of a political process" of trying to negotiate with the Taliban, said Eide, a Norwegian diplomat. "It is now time to talk. I believe the reconciliation and peace process, whatever shape it takes, should get underway as soon as possible." He said the international strategy "has unfortunately been too much militarily driven."
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