Afghanistan's controversial presidential elections last year sapped the confidence in the Afghan leadership, UN chief Ban Ki-moon has said in a new report to the Security Council and the General Assembly.
The report, made public on Monday, admitted that violence and ballot-rigging marred last August's vote in Afghanistan. After a partial audit of results, a second round was set between President Hamid Karzai and challenger Abdulalh Abdullah, but Abdullah then pulled out, leaving Karzai the victor.
According to the report, the ongoing culture of impunity, the still inadequate security forces, corruption and the insufficient pace of institution-building ultimately undermined the electoral process in Afghanistan. The UN Secretary General called the presidential polls there a snap that reflected an array of domestic troubles that are yet to be resolved.
Ban said that the election saga, along with the increasingly violent struggle against Taliban insurgents, had "contributed to a gloomy atmosphere" in Afghanistan. "If the negative trends are not corrected, there is a risk that the deteriorating overall situation will become irreversible," he said. Ban called for a new civilian structure to be created in Afghanistan under the UN aegis as soon as possible - something that he said could add to a closer coordination between the global community and the Afghan government.
In Moscow Oriental expert Vladimir Sotnikov recalls that May should see Afghanistan's parliamentary elections that he insists will come amid the fading clout of incumbent President Karzai.
"The past few months, Sotnikov says, have seen Karzai's popularity ratings continue to nose-dive with Washington repeatedly voicing unease about the matter. Replacing Karzai with a more charismatic leader seems to remain the Obama administration's top priority in Afghanistan this year - a drive that is unlikely to tackle the ongoing political standoff in the country", Sotnikov concludes.
The security situation in Afghanistan also remains tense with the death toll among coalition troops and civilians continuing to increase due to a terror rampage recently unleashed by al-Qaeda and Taliban militants. On Tuesday, US media reports said that the suicide bomber, who killed eight CIA agents in Afghanistan late last month, was an al-Qaeda double agent. He is believed to have been working undercover as a Jordanian doctor in Afghanistan for weeks before detonating a bomb at a CIA base in late December.
The news about the bomber's identity came as a report was published in which the top US military intelligence officer in Afghanistan, General Michael Flynn, sharply criticized the work of US intelligence agencies there.
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