UN
Afghan Envoy
Says Taliban
Misunderstood,
No Maxwell or
LOTFA
Update
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 20 --
When UN envoy
to Afghanistan
Jan Kubis came
to take Press
questions on
Wednesday
evening, only
Inner City
Press
was there. And
so updates
were asked
for: any
reforms or
results of
the
investigation
into the UN
Law and Order
Trust Fund for
Afghanistan,
which Inner
City Press exposed this
summer by
publishing
a series of
internal
audits?
Kubis
replied that
"there was an
interim
information
provided by
the
investigation,
under guidance
of UNDP." Now,
he said, he is
"waiting for
the final
report."
He said,
"Already the
interim
information
delivered the
right
messages." But
what
messages are
those?
Inner
City Press
asked if there
has been any
progress on
the case
of UN
staff member
Louis Maxwell,
killed by
Afghan
national
forces as he
defended his
colleagues in
Kabul?
Kubis replied,
"I am aware of
this, I need
to re-check, I
don't think we
have any
additional
information on
this very sad
case."
It
appears that
the UN has
stopped
pushing.
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon could
call Hamid
Karzai and
say, this is
an outrage, if
you
want UN
support, you
need to take
action.
But he hasn't
- instead, Ban
calls Louis
Maxwell a
hero, with
obvious
feeling, and
says Hollywood
should profile
him.
Yes,
but what about
accountability
from a
government the
UN assists?
Inner
City Press
asked about
the UN's role
in voter
registration.
Kubis'
reply veered
from new ID
cards, "issue
as many as
possible
before
Presidential
election," to
voter
registration
and
"cleaning the
register."
Peter
Galbraith,
where are you
now?
Since
the Taliban
recently said
they will NOT
participate in
a UNAMI
intra-Afghan
process in
Kabul, Inner
City Press
asked Kubis
about it.
He replied, "I
believe there
is some sort
of confusion
about
convening
something
immediately in
Kabul. They
would have
problems to
go to Kabul...
We invited
parties
representing
the
insurgency,
inlcuding the
Taliban...
first outside,
in
Turkmenistan,
in
February."
We'll see.
Watch this
site.
Footnote:
Kubis
has been
mentioned as a
possibility to
be the next
Secretary
General, along
with Irina
Bokova, Srjan
Kerim and
Danilo Turk.
By
their deeds ye
shall know
them.
, 
