[NYTr] Afghanistan expels 2 top EU and UN officials

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

BBC - Dec 25, 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/7159961.stm

Afghanistan expels top officials

Two high-ranking officials from the European Union and the United
Nations - one British, the other Irish - have been ordered to leave
Afghanistan.

The two men, based in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, had been
holding meetings with different tribes and groups, including possibly
the Taleban.

They have been given 48 hours to leave the country and the UN has said
that it will comply with the request.

But officials hope to resolve what they have called a misunderstanding.

"We are currently trying to clarify the situation with the Afghan
authorities, and we are hopeful that our staff member and the UN can
continue with the essential work that is required to deliver peace,
stability and progress to the people of Helmand province," said UN
spokesman Aleem Siddique.

'Intense diplomacy'

Alastair Leithead, BBC correspondent in Kabul, says the two, one of
whom was acting head of the EU mission in Afghanistan, spoke to a lot
of different groups across the country.

He says their role was to try to find out what was happening "on the
ground" with tribal elders, government representatives and
non-government representatives.

Officials have stressed these discussions should not be interpreted as
support for the Taleban.

Our correspondent says people were describing the situation as a storm
in a teacup which had been take much further than expected.

Intense diplomacy was continuing to try and resolve the situation, he
adds.

Homayun Hamidzada, spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai, said:
"The foreign nationals have been declared persona non grata and their
Afghan colleagues have been arrested and are being investigated."

He said they had been "involved in some activities that were not their
jobs".

Helmand province is the heart of Afghanistan's drug-producing region,
and the EU and UN have been playing a major role in the eradication
programme.

Analysts say the poppy industry has been a primary reason for the
Taleban's resurgence in the south of the country.

© BBC MMVII