NEW YORK, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- The mission in Afghanistan will fail if the strategy is not based on political reform, outgoing U.N. special envoy Kai Eide told the U.N. Security Council.
Eide is leaving his post as the head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan following a public row with his deputy, Peter Galbraith, over fraudulent president elections in Afghanistan in 2009.
The embattled diplomat struck a sour tone during the delivery of his last report on Afghanistan before the U.N. Security Council in New York.
He said he was worried growing frustration from the Afghan public and a failure to reverse the gains made by the Taliban insurgency put the mission at serious risk.
"If these negative trends are not soon reversed, then there is a risk that they will become unmanageable," he said.
London hosts an international conference on the way forward in Afghanistan following a decision by Washington to step up the military commitment to the embattled Central Asian nation.
Eide said that while it was important to provide security for the development of Afghan security and political institutions, a military strategy for Afghanistan was likely to fail.
"If we do not take these civilian components of the transition strategy as seriously as the military component, then we will fail," he said. "What we need is a strategy that is politically and not militarily driven."
