Pakistan, Iran should be involved in Afghan rebuilding: ex-UN envoy

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Pakistan, Iran should be involved in Afghan rebuilding: ex-UN envoy

* Says troop surge not enough to control violence, calls for coherent strategy

CERNOBBIO: Pakistan and Iran should be involved in efforts to mend Afghanistan, a veteran diplomat and former UN envoy to the war-torn country said on Friday. Lakhdar Brahimi called last month’s Afghan presidential election “messy” but said it did not necessarily preclude a strong government.

In an interview, he said any troop surge was not enough in itself to quell soaring violence in the country and called for a “coherent strategy” of regional cooperation. “You also need full participation by Pakistan, more than anybody else, and also Iran and India,” he said while attending a gathering of political and business leaders on Italy’s Lake Como. Brahimi acknowledged that involving Pakistan, whose own northwestern areas were troubled and overrun by the Taliban, and Iran, with its controversial presidential election and alleged nuclear weapons programme, was problematic. But, he added, “You can find ways of doing it once you accept that it is essential.”

He insisted the Taliban should have been included in talks, but said, “It is more difficult now than it was four or five years ago.” Violence has soared across much of Afghanistan since President Barack Obama ordered 21,000 US troops to Afghanistan this year, shifting the focus of the US-led war on terror from Iraq to Afghanistan. Last month’s presidential election was marred by allegations of fraud.

Election results are not expected to be finalised until mid- or late September, after officials investigate. But the latest figures show that President Hamid Karzai is moving closer to the 50 percent threshold that would allow him to avoid a run-off. ap