World must act now to reverse worsening situation in Afghanistan, Ban warns

United Nations, New York, 4 January 2010 - The Secretary-Generals latest report to the General Assembly and the Security Council on Afghanistan is out as a document today. The Secretary-Generals Special Representative, Kai Eide, will brief Member States on that report here this week, and we are trying to arrange a press briefing by him while he is here.

In the report, the Secretary-General says that the controversial 2009 elections undermined confidence in Afghanistan's leadership and affected international support for engagement in Afghanistan. However, it ultimately yielded a result that was acceptable to the Afghan people and respected the countrys laws and institutions.

He says that the electoral process revealed serious flaws and weaknesses that need to be corrected before the United Nations can engage in a similar supporting role for future elections.

The Secretary-General says that we are now at a critical juncture, and he adds that there is a need for a reinforced international coordination structure in Afghanistan, under a UN umbrella.

Also on Afghanistan, the UN Assistance Mission for Afghanistan (UNAMA), in remarks at a press briefing today, declared that it was encouraged that many of the reform-oriented ministers in the Afghan Cabinet, for agriculture, finance, defence and the interior, were approved. But the Mission noted that many others were rejected, and this will delay the formation of a functioning Cabinet.

The UN Mission respects the Afghan Parliament's constitutional role in approving the Cabinet choices and hopes that President Karzai will work closely with Parliament to approve his choice for the remaining Cabinet positions swiftly

News story:
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=33400&Cr=afghan&Cr1=

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• United Nations
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• Ban Ki-moon
• General Assembly
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• Afghanistan
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• Kai Eide
• Election
• Peace and security
• Afghan people
• Electoral process
• Karzai
• UNAMA