By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, September 20 -- After the International Contact Group on Afghanistan and Pakistan met Friday in New York, its chair Michael Koch of Germany said the theme had been the UN's work there over the past decade.
Inner City Press asked Koch and James Dobbins, Special Representative of the United States of America to Afghanistan and Pakistan, about the UN's Law and Order Trust Fund for Afghanistan, the financial scandal of which Inner City Press covered with exclusive publication of leaked audits showing double-payment of phantom Afghan police, for example.
Koch acknowledged that LOTFA is the mechanism through which funds pledged at the NATO summit in Chicago would get to the Afghanistan police; he said it has been "worked through." But where is a credible report to that effect?
Inner City Press also asked about the mix of people selected for the Electoral Complaints Commission, given that they are all described as Karzai allies. Dobbins was quick to express satisfaction with how both electoral commissions have been formed. He said the process is "in good shape."
Koch said that deputy foreign minister Ershad Ahmadi has argued for full sovereignty, including an Independent Electoral Commission being filled only by Afghan nationals. Fine: but all Kazai allies?
After the two-question briefing, Inner City Press asked Dobbins if he had heard of the case of Louis Maxwell, an American national who while working for the UN was killed while defending other UN staff, allegedly by Afghan national forces.
UN officials have several times told Inner City Press that it is up to the US to push the issue. Dobbins had not heard of it; another staffer promised to look into it. Maybe Greg Starr, formerly of the UN and now US State Department, should be asked. Watch this site.
Footnote: Also on the panel, but not answering either of Inner City Press' questions, was the UN's genial envoy Jan Kubis. For that reason, apparently, the spokesperson for UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous moderated the press conference. Unlike for Ladsous, video here, Friday he called on Inner City Press, and everything went fine, even on a question about UN corruption. One would think that would turn the corner. But what's the issue with Ladsous? We'll have more on this, it seems.
