UN envoy: Increase presence in Afghanistan, cooperate with NATO

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The United Nations should take a bigger role in Afghanistan and work harder with NATO to overcome "fragmentation" in international efforts to stabilize the country, new UN envoy Kai Eide said Thursday. "There is a desire for a stronger UN and for more UN, and we will certainly try to live up to that," Eide told The Associated Press in one of his first media interviews since taking office three days ago. "I would certainly like to have more UN people on the ground than we have today," he said on the sidelines of a NATO summit. The NATO leaders adopted a "strategic vision" setting out their objectives in Afghanistan. They pledged to support one another in filling gaps in the 47,000-strong NATO military force there.