The new UN mission chief in Afghanistan said Tuesday that he backs the Afghan government's peace talks with a major insurgent group. “The talks are helpful and should be supported,” said Staffan de Mistura, who added that he is confident that Afghan President Hamid Karzai was working to reform the election process so that parliamentary elections in September will not be a repeat of last year's fraud-stained presidential ballot. In meetings with the Karzai government during his first week on the job, de Mistura said he was given strong assurances that a “major and constructive reshuffle” of the Afghan-run election commission was imminent. He said Karzai told him that the UN would choose the international members of the Electoral Complaints Commission, which oversees the Afghan elections and rules on the validity of votes cast. The makeup of both commissions was widely contested in the presidential ballot that led to Karzai's re-election. “Let's be frank,” de Mistura said. “We are not in Switzerland. We are in Afghanistan so the elections are likely to be still imperfect, not perfect. But they need to be credible and inclusive for the sake of Afghans feeling that they are really part of it.” In a wide-ranging news conference at the heavily secured UN compound in the Afghan capital, de Mistura said a dialogue with insurgents to find a political resolution to the 8-year-old war was a step in the right direction. But he said he had no immediate plans to participate in direct or indirect talks with insurgents like his predecessor, Kai Eide. Karzai's government met in Kabul this week with representatives of the Hizb-i-Islami faction, led by warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Less certain is whether the talks with the weakened Hizb-i-Islami faction represent a game-changer in the conflict, given its demand to rewrite the Afghan constitution and force a quick exit of foreign forces. The Taliban are not involved in peace talks between an insurgent faction and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and will not agree to talks until Western troops are withdrawn from the country, a spokesman said Tuesday. Karzai's office said Monday he had held his first direct talks in Kabul with a senior delegation from Hezb-i-Islami, one of the three main insurgent groups in the country and rivals to the Taliban. The meeting was an unprecedented success in Karzai's efforts to reach out to insurgents this year, a crucial time when Washington is sending a “surge” of extra combat troops before planning to start withdrawing next year. Although the talks appeared to be preliminary, the publicly acknowledged face-to-face meeting was a significant milestone: previous contacts with insurgents have been furtive and conducted through mediators, mostly overseas.
