[NYTr] "Afghanistan is lost" says Ashdown ahead of NATO Summit

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

The Telegraph - Oct 25, 2007
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/10/25/wafg125.xml

Afghanistan is lost, says Lord Ashdown

By Tom Coghlan

NATO has "lost in Afghanistan" and its failure to bring stability there
could provoke a regional sectarian war "on a grand scale", according to
Lord Ashdown. 

The former United Nations High Representative for Bosnia and
Herzegovina delivered his dire prediction after being proposed as a new
"super envoy" role in Afghanistan.

Lord Ashdown said: "We have lost, I think, and success is now unlikely."

The assessment will be considered extreme by some diplomats but timely
by those pressing for more resources for Nato operations.

Lord Ashdown added: "I believe losing in Afghanistan is worse than
losing in Iraq. It will mean that Pakistan will fall and it will have
serious implications internally for the security of our own countries
and will instigate a wider Shiite [Shia], Sunni regional war on a grand
scale.

"Some people refer to the First and Second World Wars as European civil
wars and I think a similar regional civil war could be initiated by
this [failure] to match this magnitude."

Lord Ashdown, 66, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats, was
speaking in advance of a Nato summit in the Dutch town of Noordwijk
yesterday.

Britain and the US infuriated by the lack of assistance granted by
allies to those countries with forces operating in Afghanistan.

The tensions are particularly acute given that members pledged a year
ago that they would do everything within their power to ensure
"success" in the country.

With a growing sense in Kabul that the reconstruction and military
efforts are lacking focus, Britain and the US are pushing for the
creation of a super envoy and are looking for a political heavyweight
to fill the role.

Both countries consider that Tom Koenigs, the current UN special
representative to Kabul who is a former regional politician in Germany,
lacks the international standing to fulfil such a role. He will
complete his posting by Christmas.

It is understood that the super envoy would have the existing duties of
the UN representative but also greater powers to co-ordinate the
rebuilding of the country after decades of war. Progress in
reconstruction and development - especially in the violent south - has
been sporadic and considered largely unsatisfactory by the
international community.

However, there remains widespread discussion over the precise remit
that the new figure would have, particularly in relation to any
oversight they might have of Nato operations and Operation Enduring
Freedom, the US's separate mission.

A spokesman at the British Embassy in Kabul told The Daily Telegraph:
"There is an important role for the United Nations to play in
co-ordinating efforts in Afghanistan and we would like to see the
international effort better co-ordinated."

A senior diplomat who declined to be named said: "The overall
leadership here is that of President Karzai.

"So whoever takes on this role needs to be able to co-ordinate the
international community but also serve the interests and structures of
a sovereign state."

Apart from Lord Ashdown, candidates under consideration for the new
enhanced role include Joschka Fischer, the former German foreign
minister, Bernard Kouchner, the serving French foreign minister, and
Jaroslav Kaczynski, the former Polish prime minister who lost Sunday's
general election.