UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday that the political transition in Afghanistan continues to face "serious challenges" two years after the adoption of the Afghanistan Compact, which was launched in 2006 at the London Conference on Afghanistan and aimed at garnering international support for the Central Asian country.
"The Taliban and related armed groups and the drug economy represent fundamental threats to still-fragile political, economic and social institutions," Ban said in his latest report to the General Assembly and Security Council on Afghanistan.
Despite tactical successes by national and international military forces, the anti-government elements are far from defeated, he noted.
"Thirty-six out of 376 districts, including most districts in the east, south-east and south, remain largely inaccessible to Afghan officials and aid workers," he said. "This hinders the delivery of humanitarian assistance to vulnerable people, a situation exacerbated by the harsh weather conditions of the past few months."
"Meanwhile, poor governance and limited development efforts, particularly at the provincial and district levels, continue to result in political alienation that both directly and indirectly sustains anti-government elements," he added.
Noting that "the international community remains strongly engaged in Afghanistan," Ban called for more efforts to "improve the impact and coordination of aid and to ensure that international assistance is driven by demand rather than by supply and is prioritized according to Afghan needs."
He pledged the UN readiness to "respond to recent calls to assume a more central role in the coordination of international assistance to Afghanistan."
Following last September's high-level meeting on Afghanistan, Ban said that agreement has emerged on the need for the UN Mission in Afghanistan's coordination capacity to be strengthened.
Source:Xinhua
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