Who Will Be UN Super-Envoy In Afghanistan?

Mr Karzai also raised his reservations about Lord Ashdown with Gordon Brown in another meeting yesterday, according to a Western diplomat. Mr Brown is understood to have told the Afghan leader that Britain was not trying to push Lord Ashdown on him, explaining that it was a United Nations appointment. Immediately after meeting Mr Brown, Mr Karzai was “grabbed” by Ban Ki Moon, the UN General Secretary, for a one-on-one discussion. Lord Ashdown had been the top candidate to become a so-called “super-envoy” to serve as overall co-ordinator of international aid and political efforts in Afghanistan, where Nato troops are battling a Taleban insurgency. But one well-placed diplomat said last night that, in light of Mr Karzai’s opposition, Mr Ashdown’s candidacy was now “toast”. Lord Ashdown refused to confirm that he was out of the running. “I’ve made no comment on this, and am not going to start now,” he told The Times last night. Other possible candidates include Britain’s General John McColl, Nato’s Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, who served as the first commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan in 2002 and later acted as Prime Minister Tony Blair’s special envoy to the country. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3254382.ece

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