UN body urges Karzai to fight corruption

UNITED NATIONS - The UN General Assembly has urged the government of re-elected Afghan President Hamid Karzai to press ahead with “strengthening of the rule of law and democratic processes, the fight against corruption (and) the acceleration of justice sector reform.”
The 192-member assembly made that call Monday night by unanimously adopting a resolution that also declared that Afghanistan’s presidential election “credible” and “legitimate”, despite allegations of widespread fraud that led Karzai’s main challenger Abdullah Abdullah to pull out of the run-off round of the election.
But the UN assembly raised no doubts about Karzai’s mandate or his right to continue leading the war-torn country.
The resolution welcomed “the efforts of the relevant institutions to address irregularities identified by the electoral institutions in Afghanistan and to ensure a credible and legitimate process in accordance with the Afghan Election Law and in the framework of the Afghan Constitution.”
It appealed to the international community to help Afghanistan in countering the challenges of the militants’ attacks that threaten its democratic process and and economic development.
Before the assembly approved the resolution, 24 countries, including Pakistan, spoke in the debate on the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan in which they stressed the need for the Afghan Government and the global community to work closely together.
Pakistan’s Acting Permanent Representative Amjad Hussain Sial said the core of violence and conflict in Afghanistan emanated from terrorist groups, foreign militants such as Al-Qaeda, and militant Taliban who were not prepared to reconcile and give up fighting. The nexus with drug traders was increasingly discernable.
The key to long-term stability in Afghanistan, he said, was capacity-building of the country’s security institutions. Equally important was building the civilian institutions at the central and subnational levels.
Stressing that Pakistan’s economic and trade potential remain untapped without peace and stability in neighbouring Afghanistan, Ambassador Sial said it was time for multinational corporations to partake in development projects in Afghanistan. The growth and innovation of the international corporate sector over the last few decades had eluded Afghanistan and large-scale investments in mining, agriculture and infrastructure were necessary to promote development not only between those two countries but throughout the region.