Clear peace strategy needed - UN mediator

Despite reports that the Taliban and United Front forces were preparing to resume fighting, the UN official in charge of facilitating the peace process told IRIN that he remained “sceptically optimistic” on how to move peace negotiations forward.

UN Personal Representative of the Secretary-General Francesc Vendrell said it was time to develop a comprehensive strategy to find a solution to the Afghan conflict.

“First of all, we need to develop very clear objectives as to what kind of Afghanistan should emerge from this conflict. And we need a new strategy, because it is not possible [to achieve] by only having the two warring parties talk to each other,” he added.

Vendrell said the new strategy required the support of the countries playing a role in encouraging one or the other warring faction. With 14 months of experience in the post, Vendrell said he was coming to grips with the complexities of the Afghan conflict and its various ramifications.

The national interests of the countries involved in the Afghan conflict - in particular, the neighbouring countries - were not mutually incompatible, Vendrell said.
He considered that the various national interests would be best served “by the establishment of a unified government that was in keeping with the wishes of the Afghan people, and the views of all ethnic groups”.
These countries could only benefit from promoting an end to the conflict and the establishment of a peaceful government in Afghanistan. “Look at what they are gaining now: refugees, drugs, terrorism, subversion. They are gaining nothing,” he said.

While a unified and peaceful government in Afghanistan would stabilise the region, Vendrell said that progress in the peace process also required the international community to broaden its understanding of the conflict.

“The international community must be made to realise that dealing with Afghanistan in isolated compartments - be it terrorism, narcotics, refugees - will not solve the issue. We will not get peace in Afghanistan, nor will you solve this compartmentalised issue,” he said.

The humanitarian crisis was one such issue which could not be resolved without a political settlement, he said. Vendrell considered that the upsurge in displaced persons and refugees this year was due more to the conflict and a lack of peace than to the drought.

“Do you believe for a moment that the refugees will voluntarily go back in large numbers? Certainly not,” he said.

The same thinking applied to educated Afghans who lived abroad and whose skills would be vital for the running of the country. They, too, would be unlikely to return until a peace settlement was firmly in place, he said.

Meanwhile, the UN Security Council expressed shock at the expected resumption of large-scale fighting in Afghanistan. The current president of the Council, Jeremy Greenstock, told reporters in New York on Wednesday that any resumption in fighting would be “extremely bad news” in light of the appalling and deteriorating humanitarian situation.

Greenstock expressed support for UN efforts and other initiatives to find a political solution to the conflict. Council members believed that a peacefully negotiated political settlement was the only way to a lasting solution to the conflict, he said.

Already one of the world’s poorest countries, Afghanistan has been ravaged by two decades of war and the worst drought in 30 years.