AFP, UNITED NATIONS : The ousted Taliban have retaken control of parts of Afghanistan amid “worrying signs” that the post-war government is starting to weaken, the UN's top peacekeeping official said.
Just days before a UN Security Council mission to the war-torn country, Jean-Marie Guehenno offered a dire assessment of the difficult rebuilding process, which he said could cost five times more than previously thought.
In a report to the council, he said continuing insecurity was delaying reconstruction and wreaking havoc in much of the country. In some border districts, the Taliban now have de facto control over administration, he said.
Suspected Taliban, al-Qaeda and other militants have carried out attacks while factional guerrilla fighting has also added to the insecurity.
Guehenno suggested the multiethnic government system spelled out by the Bonn agreement, after the Taliban were ousted in 2001 by a US-led war, was at risk.
“Many of the fundamental, structural causes of insecurity remain unresolved,” he said.
“There are worrying signs that the political compact that has allowed the government to press ahead with Bonn in spite of the differences of its individual members may be weakening,” he said.
“Insecurity has without question slowed the delivery of reconstruction, if not outright prevented it in the most insecure areas.”
Guehenno said that the international community had underestimated the amount needed to rebuild the country, echoing requests from the government of President Hamid Karzai for more money and an expanded peacekeeping presence.
Donors have pledged more than four billion dollars in aid over five years but as much as six billion dollars annually could be needed to get the country back on its feet, he said.
“It is now clear that significantly greater resources are required,” he said. The report comes as the international community is already being pressed for billions of dollars more to help rebuild Iraq.
The Security Council, which last week authorised international peacekeeprs to deply outside the capital Kabul in a bid to help restore order, will head to Afghanistan next week for a first-hand look at the situation.
Germany will send up to 450 troops to deploy around the northern city of Kunduz but there have not yet been commitments from other countries to commit to the international force.
“This is a Muslim country that wants more UN presence,” said Heraldo Munoz, the UN ambassador from Security Council member Chile, who just completed a three-day visit to Afghanistan.
“They want more multilateral engagement and not less,” Munoz said. “The cooperation that they are asking for, I think, should be responded to positively.”
