here - Center on International Cooperation - New York University

Afghanistan | 753.5M i s s i o n R e v i e w sAfghanistanFew political missions have come undersuch intense scrutiny as the UN AssistanceMission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). The overallinternational strategy in Afghanistan has been thetopic of increasingly heated debate in the last twoyears, and UNAMA’s relationships with the Afghangovernment and its opponents have both beenquestioned. With little clarity over the mediumand long-term future of US and NATO forcesin the country, UNAMA’s own future cannot becompletely certain. However, over the last year, theUN has made efforts to reconfigure and revitalizethe nine-year old mission.UNAMA’s ability to monitor and affect Afghanaffairs is complicated by a deteriorating security situation.By January 2010, security incidents were 40 percent higher than the previous year. While the majorityof the incidents occurred in the south and east ofthe country, the insurgency has managed to spreadits activities into areas previously considered stable.The brunt of the conflict has been borne by the civilianpopulation, with a total of 2,412 civilian deathsrecorded in 2009 1 and 1,271 recorded in the first sixmonths of 2010. 2 The deterioration in the securityenvironment has also resulted in reduced freedom ofmovement for civil servants and UN officials.The rising violence did not stop presidentialelections in 2009. The polls proved extremely controversial,but President Hamid Karzai ultimatelysecured a second term. In January 2010, the Britishgovernment hosted an international conferenceon Afghanistan with the participation of over 70states and organizations. The resulting communiquéhighlighted the “goals of greater AfghanOpening of a new provincial office in Sar-i-Pul province, 9 May 2009.Leadership, increased Regional Cooperation andmore effective International Partnership.” 3 Theparticipants foresaw a gradual transfer of responsibilitiesfrom international agencies and forces tothe Afghan government, although they reaffirmedthat UNAMA remained “the primary internationalorganization for coordinating international support”in the meantime.At the end of 2009, the Special Representativeof the Secretary-General, Kai Eide, announced hisintention to leave his post in early 2010. Prior tothe London conference, Ban Ki-moon announcedthat Staffan de Mistura, the former head of theUN Assistance Mission in Iraq (see p. 83) wouldreplace Eide. De Mistura has been responsible forUN Photo/Fardin Waezi