Top UN official in Afghanistan wants to leave

U.N. Special Envoy to Afghanistan Kai Eide will not renew his contract when his term expires.

The top U.N. official in Afghanistan said Friday he will not renew his contract when it expires in March after a two-year tenure marred by controversy over his handling of the country’s fraud-marred presidential election and a deadly attack on U.N. workers.

Kai Eide, a Norwegian diplomat, said he is not stepping down but has asked U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to start searching for a replacement.

“I’m not resigning,” Eide told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “It’s a question of telling New York that I’m not renewing my contract.”

Eide’s tenure was tarnished by allegations from his American deputy, Peter Galbraith, that he was not bullish enough in curbing fraud in the August presidential election, which eventually awarded a second term to Hamid Karzai. Eide denied the charge and said controversy over the election was not linked to his decision not to renew his contract.

To read the rest of the story by the Associated Press, click here.