Peter Galbraith removed as U.N. ambassador to Afghanistan

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Here’s a developing story that’s percolating around the Intertubes.

The Timesonline reports that U.N. ambassador to Afghanistan Peter Galbraith has been removed from his position by his supervisor Kai Eide, of Norway.  James Bone in New York, Jerome Starkey in Kabul and Tom Coghlan report.

America’s top diplomat at the United Nations mission in Afghanistan has been ordered out of the country after a row with his boss over how to respond to last month’s fraud-riddled presidential elections, it has been alleged.

The alleged quarrel is threatening to spark a mutiny within the UN mission. At least a dozen senior staff are backing the American, Peter Galbraith, in the dispute with his Norwegian superior, Kai Eide.

Mr Galbraith, a close friend of the US special envoy Richard Holbrooke, left for Boston on Sunday after a heated meeting with Afghan election officials. His “pointed” questions to the Independent Election Commission (IEC) were evidence of a much tougher line towards the Afghan authorities than the “softly-softly” approach of Mr Eide, who heads the UN mission to Kabul.

“The relationship between Kai and Peter has completely broken down,” said a diplomat in Kabul. “Peter has left the country. The official line is that he’s on a three-week mission to New York. But Kai just turned round to Peter and said, ‘I want you out’.”

To read more click here.

Galbraith, a resident of Townshend, is a former ambassador to Croatia and played a significant role in the 1995 Erdut agreement, ending the war between Serbia and Croatia.  

One thought on “Peter Galbraith removed as U.N. ambassador to Afghanistan”

  1. It would be interesting to know more about exactly what those “pointed questions” were, and just how badly the UN is seeking to look away from what sounds like an election in need of a “do-over.”

    A telling quote from the article:

    “The one thing the UN should be doing, which it’s not doing, is speaking up on election fraud,” said a mission insider. “A lot of people in the UN feel that unless there’s space for someone to behave as Peter has behaved, then what are we doing here?”

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