U.N. officials say the top American serving in the U.N. mission to
Afghanistan will not return to his post, following a dispute over how
to handle fraud allegations in the country's disputed presidential
election.
Officials who requested not to be named told reporters
that Peter Galbraith angered superiors at the U.N. mission in
Afghanistan by taking a publicly aggressive stance against widespread
fraud in the August 20 election. The top U.N. envoy in Afghanistan,
Norwegian Kai Eide, preferred to operate behind the scenes.
The
U.N. has not made an official announcement regarding Galbraith's
status, but in an e-mail to the BBC, Galbraith said he has not been
fired as far as he knows.
Galbraith left Kabul to return to
the United States on September 13. U.N. officials downplayed his
departure and said they expected him to return soon.
Afghan
election officials are recounting a sample of the votes from the
disputed election in an effort to resolve weeks of uncertainty about
the outcome.
Preliminary election results show President Hamid
Karzai winning with 54 percent of the vote. If enough ballots are
invalidated, the incumbent could dip below the 50 percent threshold
needed to avoid a runoff with his main rival, former Foreign Minister
Abdullah Abdullah.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
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Top US Official at UN Afghan Mission Will Not Return to Post
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