( dpa ) - The United Nations said Wednesday the international community has failed to coordinate efforts to effectively assist the Afghan government while the country's economy relies on a thriving but illegal drug trafficking.
It called for renewed efforts to strengthen the mandate of the UN mission in Afghanistan as it sent a new special envoy, Kai Eide of Norway, to take over its leadership in Kabul.
Jean-Marie Guehenno, the UN undersecretary general for peacekeeping operations, told the UN Security Council during a review session that there have been "deficiencies" in coordinating international support despite generosity in providing billions of dollars.
"The UN bears its own share of responsibility for deficiencies in international coordination," Guehenno said, adding that the UN is trying to correct the lapses but also needs the cooperation of all countries.
Eide's arrival in Kabul should inject "renewed vigour" in efforts to assist the Kabul government, which since 2000 has relied on international aid and a NATO force to survive. The US-led Operation Enduring Freedom has since 2001 pursued Taliban forces and the al- Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.
The government of President Hamid Karzai has remained "fragile and without sufficient capacity, and have become susceptible to corrosive practices of corruption," Guehenno said.
"A massive illegal drug economy thrives in the vacuum of state authority, and has abetted the insurgency and undermined the state," he said.
Guehenno called for a "sharpened" mandate for the UN mission under Eide, backed by council members who have worked out a draft resolution to define a new and expanded role that has been under discussion under the leadership of Italy.
The draft calls for the UN to expand its presence across Afghanistan, strengthen cooperation with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) under NATO command, play a central role in the delivery of relief assistance and assist Kabul in the organization of democratic reform and elections.
The UN said Secretary General Ban Ki-moon plans to attend an international meeting on Afghanistan in Bucharest on April 3, which will also be attended by Karzai, international banking organizations, leaders of NATO and the European Union.
Another international meeting will be held in Paris in June for the purposes of devising new assistance to Afghanistan.