UN envoy backs talks with Afghan militants

The new UN mission chief in Afghanistan said yesterday that he backs the Afghan government's peace talks with a major Taliban-linked militant 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."