At
UN,
All-Afghan
Electoral
Bodies Given
Thumbs Up,
LOTFA Too, But
Maxwell?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 20
-- After the
International
Contact Group
on
Afghanistan
and Pakistan
met Friday in
New York, its
chair Michael
Koch of
Germany said
the theme had
been the UN's
work there
over the
past decade.
Inner
City Press
asked Koch and
James Dobbins,
Special
Representative
of
the United
States of
America to
Afghanistan
and Pakistan,
about the
UN's Law
and Order
Trust Fund for
Afghanistan,
the financial
scandal
of which Inner
City Press
covered with
exclusive
publication of
leaked audits
showing
double-payment
of phantom
Afghan police,
for
example.
Koch
acknowledged
that LOTFA is
the mechanism
through which
funds pledged
at the NATO
summit in
Chicago would
get to the
Afghanistan
police; he
said it has
been "worked
through." But
where is a
credible
report to that
effect?
Inner
City Press
also asked
about the mix
of people
selected for
the Electoral
Complaints
Commission,
given that
they are all
described as
Karzai
allies.
Dobbins was
quick to
express
satisfaction
with how both
electoral
commissions
have been
formed. He
said the
process is "in
good shape."
Koch
said that
deputy foreign
minister
Ershad Ahmadi
has argued for
full
sovereignty,
including an
Independent
Electoral
Commission
being
filled only by
Afghan
nationals.
Fine: but all
Kazai allies?
After
the
two-question
briefing,
Inner City
Press asked
Dobbins if he
had
heard of the
case of Louis
Maxwell, an
American
national who
while
working for
the UN was
killed while
defending
other UN
staff,
allegedly by
Afghan
national
forces.
UN officials
have several
times
told Inner
City Press
that it is up
to the US to
push the
issue.
Dobbins had
not heard of
it; another
staffer
promised to
look into
it. Maybe Greg Starr,
formerly of the
UN and now US
State
Department,
should be
asked.
Watch this
site.
Footnote:
Also on the
panel, but not
answering
either of
Inner City
Press'
questions, was
the UN's
genial envoy
Jan Kubis.
For that
reason,
apparently,
the spokesperson
for UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous
moderated the
press
conference.
Unlike for
Ladsous, video
here,
Friday he
called on
Inner City
Press, and
everything
went fine,
even on a
question about
UN corruption.
One would
think that
would turn the
corner. But
what's the
issue with
Ladsous? We'll
have more on
this, it
seems.
, 
