UN envoy calls for talks between Aghan govt, Taliban
NEW YORK – Afghanistan continues to need the sustained support of the international community as its stability cannot be taken for granted, said Nicholas Haysom, the UN Secretary General's Special Representative for Afghanistan, in a briefing to the Security Council on Friday.
Noting that the people of Afghanistan were facing what the UN envoy called "an opaque future," and were keenly monitoring their environment for signs of international disengagement or of domestic stabilisation, Haysom said the current refugee exodus reflected the despondency of many Afghans.
"A clear signal of continued international support will mitigate the uncertainty fueling this exodus," said the Haysom, who is also head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). Speaking of the country's security situation, Haysom said the conflict continued to take a toll on Afghan civilians, noting that, in the first eight months of 2015, UNAMA documented the highest level of civilian casualties since it began records.
Anti-Government Elements, he said, are continuing to cause the majority of civilian deaths and injuries, and casualties caused by Afghan security forces are continuing to rise. The UN envoy went on to say that this year's conflict had been one of the most intense faced by the Afghan National Security Forces. "As predicated in earlier briefings, we anticipate the intensification of the violence in the country to continue through 2015," he said, underscoring the importance of renewing a viable peace process.
"I reiterate my call for direct engagement between the Taliban and the government," he stressed. "A war-weary Afghan population is clamoring for peace and they deserve it," he added. The UN envoy said UNAMA would continue to engage, in the background, with the government, the Taliban, neighboring countries and the international community to promote a process that would allow Afghans to find an arrangement by which they could live in peace.
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