By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 16 --
After the UN
Security Council
voted to
extended the
mandate of its
Afghanistan
mission for a
year on March
16, UN envoy
Nicholas Haysom
and Afghan
Ambassador
Zahir Tanin
came out to
answer Press
questions together.
Inner
City Press
asked about
Tanin's idea
that his
government
should be
central to the
coordination
of aid in the
country, and
where Haysom
has been
speaking with
the Taliban,
and what
about. Video
here.
Haysom said,
in Doha, about
civilian casualties
and the UN's
methodology
for counting
them. He said
he wouldn't
prejudge the
UN's review.
Tanin chimed
in to
repeated, more
diplomatically,
what he
stopped and
told the Press
on his way
into the
Council, that
it is time for
his government
to take the
lead.
Haysom came
again to the
microphone to
say that to be
challenged on
what value the
UN mission
brings is
welcome. One
wonders if the
UN missions in
the DR Congo
and South
Sudan feel the
same.
When Tanin
spoke inside
the Council
before the
15-0 vote, he
emphasized the
penultimate
paragraph of
17-page
resolution,
saying that
“we
welcome the
Security
Council's
request 'that
the
Secretary-General
initiate a
process to
conduct within
six months of
the renewal of
this mandate,
a full
examination of
the role,
structure and
activities of
all United
Nations
entities in
Afghanistan,
in full
consultation
and engagement
with the
Government of
Afghanistan
and key
stakeholders,
including the
donor
community, in
light of the
completion of
transition and
the beginning
of the
Transformation
Decade and in
accordance
with the
principles of
Afghan
national
sovereignty,
national
leadership and
national
ownership.'”
Inevitably
this recalled
the UN
system's own
role in
corruption in
the country,
for example
the UN Development
Program-run "Law and
Order Trust
Fund for Afghanistan,"
which its double
payments to
phantom
police. This
is still much
to be reported
on this, even
as former UNAMA
chief Jan Kubis
takes up his
new post atop
the UN Mission
in Iraq,
UNAMI. Inner
City Press was
first to
report this
move, as
credited in
the media in Slovakia,
here.
While
Tanin didn't
get into it in
his March 16
speech to the
Security
Council,
UNAMA's
Nicholas
Haysom told
the Council
that “I can
also confirm
that UNAMA
continues a
frank dialogue
with the
Taliban on
humanitarian
access and on
human rights,
notably on the
protection of
civilians.”
Haysom also
told the
Council on
March 16 that
“recent
reports have
indicated that
the Islamic
State of Iraq
and the Levant
has
established a
foothold in
Afghanistan.
It is UNAMA's
assessment
that the
group's
presence is of
concern but
that ISIL's
significance
is not such
much a
function of
its intrinsic
capacities in
the area but
its potential
to offer an
alternative
flagpole to
which
otherwise
isolated
insurgent
splinter
groups can
rally.”
Back
on December 18,
2014 after
UNAMA's Haysom
briefed the
Security
Council on
December 18,
he came to the
Council's
stakeout and
took questions
from the
Press.
His
predecessor Jan
Kubis had
previously
answered about
the scandal
plagued UN Law
and Order
Trust Fund for
Afghanistan, promising a
“public
accounting;”
further back
when he was
Afghanistan
envoy, Staffan
de Mistura
told Inner
City Press he
would get to
the bottom of
the killing
of UN staff
member Louis
Maxwell
there.
Haysom
on December 18
said that the
Louis Maxwell
case was being
handled by the
UN Department
of Safety and
Security. On
December 19,
when to his
credit he held
a sit-down
press
conference, he
said that the
LOTFA issues
were more for
the UN
Development
Program --
which has been
far from
responsive --
and that it is
largely a
matter of
answering the
questions from
donors. That's
certainly part
of it. But
what about the
“public
accounting”?
Some
of these
issues go
beyond Haysom
as SRSG. It
was up to Ban
Ki-moon to
push the
Karzai
government
about the
killing of
Louis Maxwell,
and he didn't.
UNDP should be
answering the
questions
about LOTFA,
but isn't.
Still, doesn't
this make the
UNAMA
mission's job
more
difficult?
Again
to his credit,
Haysom said
that UNAMA
formally
reached out to
the Taliban,
on human
rights issues,
and meet with
them in Doha.
He emphasized
there can be
no (entirely)
military
solution.
Inner
City Press
tried to ask
UNAMA Human
Rights Office
chief
Georgette
Gagnon if her
office works
with the
International
Criminal
Court's
inquiry into
Afghanistan.
But
it was Haysom
who answered,
saying yes
UNAMA
participates
constructively
but that it is
confidential.
With the
release, even
redacted, of
the summary of
the US torture
report, the
ICC's
Afghanistan
inquiry has
become all the
more
interesting.
We'll have
more on this.
Footnote:
in
terms of
accessibility
during his
visit to UNHQ
in New York,
Haysom should
be credited.
Under
Secretaries
General like Herve Ladsous and even, less
abusively,
Jeffrey
Feltman rarely
speak to the
media. Inner
City Press for
the new Free
UN Coalition
for Access
on December 19
thanked Haysom
-- and posits
that
willingness to
answer
questions from
the media
should be one
of the
criteria by
which UN
officials,
including for
example the
next head of
OCHA, are
chosen.
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