The United Nations envoy to Afghanistan, Staffan de Mistura, met delegates from one of the country’s main insurgent groups in Kabul on Thursday, the first Western diplomat to meet them since they arrived in the capital for peace talks with the government. The insurgent group, Hezb-i-Islami, has said its leadership is ready to make peace [...]
LONDON (Reuters) – The arrests of senior Afghan Taliban members in Pakistan have stopped most talks between the insurgents and U.N. representatives, the former head of the U.N. mission in Afghanistan said in a BBC interview. Norwegian Kai Eide, who stepped down this month, said talks dried up several weeks ago after more than a [...]
THE UN’s special representative to Afghanistan acknowledged last night for the first time that the country’s presidential election had been tainted by “significant” and “widespread” fraud. Kai Eide called a media conference to deny allegations made by his sacked former deputy, Peter Galbraith, that he had concealed evidence of fraud in the presidential elections. He [...]
Wednesday, September 16, 2009 – Powered by Amy Teibel Associated Press OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Washington’s special Mideast envoy pressed Israel to curtail settlement construction in the occupied West Bank but announced no breakthroughs after talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Tuesday. After an evening meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Mitchell said the US is [...]