Kai Eide
Encyclopedia
Kai Aage Eide is a Norwegian
diplomat. He was appointed the United Nations
Special Representative to Afghanistan
and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) on 7 March 2008, a position he held until March 2010 when Staffan de Mistura
took over.
Eide has previously served as the Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General
in Kosovo in 2005. His report to the Secretary General of the United Nations on the political situation in former Serbian province of Kosovo
resulted in the launching of the negotiations that ultimately brought about the independence of Kosovo. Eide has also Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Bosnia and Herzegovina
in 1997-1998.
He has been a member of the Norwegian Foreign Service since 1975. He was the Norwegian ambassador to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) from 2002 to 2006 and to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) from 1998 to 2002. He has also been posted as Special Adviser on the Balkans at the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as Norway's ambassador at the International Conference for the former Yugoslavia
.
He has also been active in national politics; for the Conservative Party
. In the Syse government, between 1989 and 1990, he was appointed State Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister
. He later served as a deputy representative to the Norwegian Parliament from Akershus
during the term 1993–1997.
Eide holds a cand.mag.
degree from the University of Oslo
in 1975, where he studied political science, international law, French and literature.
Secretary General Ban Ki Moon after he urged UNAMA to take actions to prevent fraud in the 2009 Afghanistan presidential elections and to take action, consistent with its mandate to support "free, fair and transparent" elections once the fraud took place. After being informed of his dismissal, Galbraith wrote Ban ki-Moon a letter accusing Eide of helping cover up electoral fraud and being biased in favor of Hamid Karzai.
On December 11, 2009 Kai Eide, announced that he would step down from his post in March. He said he was not resigning but simply fulfilling a commitment he made to his family in March 2008 to spend only two years in Kabul. de Mistura
, a Swedish-Italian diplomat who earlier headed the U.N. mission in Baghdad
,was appointed as his successor.
Eide proposed the appointment of a senior civilian representative to coordinate relief efforts by the U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan. He also urged the U.N. leadership to allow his successor to hire more staff from the United States and other Western countries, saying it would increase their confidence that their money is being properly spent.
According to Peter Galbraith, in an interview with The Cable, the internet news service of Foreign Policy
, Kai Eide did not resign voluntarily as he claimed, but was forcibly removed. "Kai's problem was that he valued his relationship with Karzai above all else, including having honest elections" Galbraith said. "He was so discredited by the way he handed the election and the fallout from engineering my ouster. He cut his own throat."
Galbraith predicted that Eide would be replaced by Swedish diplomat De Mistura.
Shortly after this comment by Galbraith, Kai Eide accused Galbraith of proposing to enlist the White House
in a plan to force the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, to resign, and to install a more Western-friendly figure as president of Afghanistan. Then a new government would be installed led by the former finance minister Ashraf Ghani
, or by the former interior minister Ali Ahmad Jalali
. Galbraith expained that he was trying to address a constitutional crisis precipiated by Karzai's maneuvering to stay in office a full year beyond the end of his term. In September 2009, the Karzai-appointed Independent Election Commission (IEC) voted 6 to 1 to override its own rules and include enough obviously fraudulent Karzai ballots so as to put Karzai above the 50% needed to avoid a run-off. The IEC then explained that, even if the Electoral Complaints Commission (a separate independently appointed body empowered to investigate electoral irregularities) threw out enough of these fraudulent ballots so as require a run-off (as, in fact, it did), it was not technically possible to have a run off before May 2010. Since Karzai's term had ended on May 21, 2009, he would illegally be in office a full year after his term ended incircumstances that could provoke unrest and even civil war. Nonetheless, Eide said that he told his deputy the plan was "unconstitutional, it represented interference of the worst sort, and if pursued it would provoke not only a strong international reaction" but also civil insurrection. Eide did not address the issue of Karzai's effort to unconstitutionally extend his term. It was during this conversation that Galbraith proposed taking a leave to the United States, and Eide accepted. Galbraith denied he had pursued the plan and both Vice President Biden and Special Representative Richard Holbrooke, two close Galbraith allies, confirmed that the matter was never raised with them.
, in Dubai
on January 8, 2010. This would have been the first such meeting between the UN and alleged senior members of the Taliban, suggesting that peace talks had revived since exploratory contacts between emissaries of the Kabul government and the Taliban in Saudi Arabia
in 2009 broke down. It was not clear how significant a faction had showed up in Dubai or how serious they were. A western official confirmed that there were "indications of splits in the Taliban over the prospect of a settlement". Supporters of former presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah
predicted that negotiations could fail because the Karzai government was "too weak", and other critics warned that trying to buy off insurgents created a "moral hazard" of rewarding combatants who had killed Western troops and local civilians. Taliban sources denied that there had been such a meeting and dismissed them as "baseless rumors".
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
diplomat. He was appointed the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Special Representative to Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) on 7 March 2008, a position he held until March 2010 when Staffan de Mistura
Staffan de Mistura
Staffan de Mistura is a long-serving Italian-Swedish diplomat. After a 36 year career in various UN agencies, United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon appointed him as his Special Representative for Iraq on 11 September 2007...
took over.
Eide has previously served as the Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General
United Nations Secretary-General
The Secretary-General of the United Nations is the head of the Secretariat of the United Nations, one of the principal organs of the United Nations. The Secretary-General also acts as the de facto spokesperson and leader of the United Nations....
in Kosovo in 2005. His report to the Secretary General of the United Nations on the political situation in former Serbian province of Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
resulted in the launching of the negotiations that ultimately brought about the independence of Kosovo. Eide has also Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
in 1997-1998.
He has been a member of the Norwegian Foreign Service since 1975. He was the Norwegian ambassador to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) from 2002 to 2006 and to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) from 1998 to 2002. He has also been posted as Special Adviser on the Balkans at the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as Norway's ambassador at the International Conference for the former Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
.
He has also been active in national politics; for the Conservative Party
Conservative Party of Norway
The Conservative Party is a Norwegian political party. The current leader is Erna Solberg. The party was since the 1920s consistently the second largest party in Norway, but has been surpassed by the growth of the Progress Party in the late 1990s and 2000s...
. In the Syse government, between 1989 and 1990, he was appointed State Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister
Norwegian Office of the Prime Minister
The Norwegian Office of the Prime Minister is a political and bureaucratic office that assists the Cabinet of Norway and the Prime Minister of Norway in the leadership of the Cabinet and Government. It has since 2005 been led by Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg . Minister and Chief of Staff is Karl...
. He later served as a deputy representative to the Norwegian Parliament from Akershus
Akershus
- Geography :The county is conventionally divided into the traditional districts Follo and Romerike, which fill the vast part of the county, as well as the small exclave west of Oslo that consists of Asker and Bærum...
during the term 1993–1997.
Eide holds a cand.mag.
Cand.mag.
Candidatus magisterii , Candidata magisterii , i.e. Latin Candidate of Arts, abbreviated cand.mag., is an academic degree used in Denmark, and formerly in Norway and Iceland, roughly corresponding to an American Master of Arts and officially translated as such...
degree from the University of Oslo
University of Oslo
The University of Oslo , formerly The Royal Frederick University , is the oldest and largest university in Norway, situated in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The university was founded in 1811 and was modelled after the recently established University of Berlin...
in 1975, where he studied political science, international law, French and literature.
Firing of Peter Galbraith
U.N. deputy special representative in Afghanistan Peter Galbraith, a subordinate of Eide, was fired by United NationsUnited Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Secretary General Ban Ki Moon after he urged UNAMA to take actions to prevent fraud in the 2009 Afghanistan presidential elections and to take action, consistent with its mandate to support "free, fair and transparent" elections once the fraud took place. After being informed of his dismissal, Galbraith wrote Ban ki-Moon a letter accusing Eide of helping cover up electoral fraud and being biased in favor of Hamid Karzai.
On December 11, 2009 Kai Eide, announced that he would step down from his post in March. He said he was not resigning but simply fulfilling a commitment he made to his family in March 2008 to spend only two years in Kabul. de Mistura
Staffan de Mistura
Staffan de Mistura is a long-serving Italian-Swedish diplomat. After a 36 year career in various UN agencies, United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon appointed him as his Special Representative for Iraq on 11 September 2007...
, a Swedish-Italian diplomat who earlier headed the U.N. mission in Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
,was appointed as his successor.
Eide proposed the appointment of a senior civilian representative to coordinate relief efforts by the U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan. He also urged the U.N. leadership to allow his successor to hire more staff from the United States and other Western countries, saying it would increase their confidence that their money is being properly spent.
According to Peter Galbraith, in an interview with The Cable, the internet news service of Foreign Policy
Foreign Policy
Foreign Policy is a bimonthly American magazine founded in 1970 by Samuel P. Huntington and Warren Demian Manshel.Originally, the magazine was a quarterly...
, Kai Eide did not resign voluntarily as he claimed, but was forcibly removed. "Kai's problem was that he valued his relationship with Karzai above all else, including having honest elections" Galbraith said. "He was so discredited by the way he handed the election and the fallout from engineering my ouster. He cut his own throat."
Galbraith predicted that Eide would be replaced by Swedish diplomat De Mistura.
Shortly after this comment by Galbraith, Kai Eide accused Galbraith of proposing to enlist the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
in a plan to force the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, to resign, and to install a more Western-friendly figure as president of Afghanistan. Then a new government would be installed led by the former finance minister Ashraf Ghani
Ashraf Ghani
Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai is a prominent politician in Afghanistan and the former chancellor of Kabul University. He is also the chairman of the Institute for State Effectiveness, an organization set up in 2005 to promote the ability of states to serve their citizens. Before returning to...
, or by the former interior minister Ali Ahmad Jalali
Ali Ahmad Jalali
Ali Ahmad Jalali is an Afghan American and a Distinguished Professor at the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies of the United States' National Defense University. He is also a former Interior Minister of Afghanistan, serving in that position from January 2003 to September 2005.Jalali...
. Galbraith expained that he was trying to address a constitutional crisis precipiated by Karzai's maneuvering to stay in office a full year beyond the end of his term. In September 2009, the Karzai-appointed Independent Election Commission (IEC) voted 6 to 1 to override its own rules and include enough obviously fraudulent Karzai ballots so as to put Karzai above the 50% needed to avoid a run-off. The IEC then explained that, even if the Electoral Complaints Commission (a separate independently appointed body empowered to investigate electoral irregularities) threw out enough of these fraudulent ballots so as require a run-off (as, in fact, it did), it was not technically possible to have a run off before May 2010. Since Karzai's term had ended on May 21, 2009, he would illegally be in office a full year after his term ended incircumstances that could provoke unrest and even civil war. Nonetheless, Eide said that he told his deputy the plan was "unconstitutional, it represented interference of the worst sort, and if pursued it would provoke not only a strong international reaction" but also civil insurrection. Eide did not address the issue of Karzai's effort to unconstitutionally extend his term. It was during this conversation that Galbraith proposed taking a leave to the United States, and Eide accepted. Galbraith denied he had pursued the plan and both Vice President Biden and Special Representative Richard Holbrooke, two close Galbraith allies, confirmed that the matter was never raised with them.
Negotiations with Taliban
In early 2010, Kai Eide put out the word that he had secret exploratory talks with Taliban commanders to discuss peace terms, as emerged end of that month during the International Conference on Afghanistan in London. According to Eide, he met with Regional commanders on the Taliban's leadership council, the Quetta ShuraQuetta Shura
The Quetta Shura is a militant organization composed of top leadership of the Afghan Taliban, that is believed to be based since about 2001 in the city of Quetta in the Balochistan province of Pakistan. The Shura was formed after the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan was toppled in late 2001 and the...
, in Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
on January 8, 2010. This would have been the first such meeting between the UN and alleged senior members of the Taliban, suggesting that peace talks had revived since exploratory contacts between emissaries of the Kabul government and the Taliban in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
in 2009 broke down. It was not clear how significant a faction had showed up in Dubai or how serious they were. A western official confirmed that there were "indications of splits in the Taliban over the prospect of a settlement". Supporters of former presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah
Abdullah Abdullah
Abdullah Abdullah is an Afghan politician and a doctor of medicine. He was an adviser and friend to Ahmad Shah Massoud, legendary anti-Taliban leader and commander known as the "Lion of Panjshir". After the fall of the Taliban regime, Dr. Abdullah served as Afghanistan's Foreign Minister from 2001...
predicted that negotiations could fail because the Karzai government was "too weak", and other critics warned that trying to buy off insurgents created a "moral hazard" of rewarding combatants who had killed Western troops and local civilians. Taliban sources denied that there had been such a meeting and dismissed them as "baseless rumors".