UNITED NATIONS, July 7 (UPI) -- Giving the Afghan government more responsibilities in the country is more than just an issue of national security, the U.N. special envoy to the country said.
Staffan de Mistura, U.N. special envoy to Afghanistan, told members of the U.N. Security Council that transition in Afghanistan needed to move forward beyond security issues. Transition, he said, must be linked to social, economy and human rights development.
U.S. and British forces announced plans to withdraw some troops from the country as part of a phased handover. Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he'd like his security forces to take over responsibility in the country by 2014.
Politics in Afghanistan, however, are still troubled by rampant corruption and fraud. A tribunal convened by the Afghan president found 25 percent of the members Parliament who won seats in last year's contentious election were recalled because of fraud charges.
De Mistura had met with lawmakers involved in the electoral complaint. He stressed that the United Nations wasn't tasked with addressing individual political cases in the country.
He told the Security Council that transition must be something "the Afghan people recognize and identify with" if it's to become "solidly irreversible."
