Washington, October 06: An American ousted as the No. 2 official at the U.N. mission in Afghanistan said Monday he has no second-thoughts about assertions that the organization failed to aggressively probe vote fraud charges in the August presidential election.
“The flaw that took place in Afghanistan was preventable,” the dismissed diplomat, Peter Galbraith, said Monday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
Galbraith said the United Nations “did not exercise its responsibility.” In dismissing Galbraith, the deputy envoy at the U.N. mission there, Secretary-General Ki-moon did not specify the nature of their differences.
Galbraith said the argument was over how the U.N. should have handled the delicate situation.
Preliminary results from the Aug. 20 election show President Hamid Karzai won a majority, with former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah in second place. But proclamation of a winner has been delayed pending a partial recount by the U.N.-backed Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC).
U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas was asked at U.N. headquarters in New York how damaging Galbraith’s allegations are to the status of the United Nations as a neutral observer — and whether the secretary-general was considering replacing the top U.N. envoy in Afghanistan, Kai Eide, as a result of the very public dispute.
“At this point we are certainly concerned about those allegations, and we’re trying to do as much as we can to specify what the U.N. role exactly was, and what the U.N. role still is,” Montas told reporters. “Are we worried? I think we can just reaffirm our faith in those electoral bodies which were set up and which are now examining the fraud issue and the allegations of fraud.”
“It would be irresponsible for the U.N. to pronounce itself on evidence and cases of alleged fraud before the appropriate Afghan bodies do so,” Montas said.
As for replacing Eide, Montas said, “The secretary-general has total confidence in Mr. Eide and I want to reaffirm this today.”
Interviewed following the deadliest attack on American troops in a year, Galbraith said he doesn’t think this is the right time to bring on an Iraq-like surge in the wartorn country.
“It makes no sense to ramp up,” he said. “On the other hand, we cannot afford to pull out.”
The Obama administration is weighing whether to send thousands of additional U.S. forces to Afghanistan, as commanding Gen. Stanley McChrystal reportedly has urged.
Galbraith also said that unless U.S. and coalition troops can secure significant population centers in Afghanistan, “we’re going to be there as an occupying force for a long time … and that doesn’t make any sense.”
–Agencies