Afghan clashes kill 27 Taliban

Tue Sep 15, 2009, 10:17 am ET

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) –

Afghan and foreign forces killed 27 (alleged Taliban fighters) in gunfights and an air strike in a Taliban stronghold of Kandahar province, police and the government said Tuesday.

The battles took place in Zeheri district in a joint operation (against Taliban-controlled area) in the southern province, where the Taliban have a strong presence, said deputy Kandahar police chief Mohammad Shah Khan.

"During the operation Monday in Ashobo area, where the air force was also used, 27 (alleged) armed opposition were killed. It was a Taliban hideout," he said.

Afghanistan's defence ministry confirmed the incident and the death toll, saying that operations in the area were ongoing.

Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman, told AFP four fighters were killed and five civilians died in the crossfire.

The clashes come with a Taliban (resistance to NATO forces) at its deadliest since the 2001 US-led invasion.

U.S. diplomat ordered out of Afghanistan

KABUL, Sept. 15, 2009 (UPI) --

U.S. diplomat Peter Galbraith, a member of the U.N. mission in Afghanistan, has been ordered out the country by his boss, sources say.

Citing unnamed diplomatic sources, The Times of London reported Tuesday that an argument between Galbraith and Norwegian Kai Eide, who heads the U.N. mission to Kabul, resulted in Galbraith's being banned and has sparked a diplomatic row over how the United Nations is dealing with allegations of election fraud in Afghanistan.

The newspaper said Galbraith left the country Sunday after directing tough questions about fraud in the Aug. 20 presidential election to the U.N.-backed Independent Election Commission. That reportedly angered Eide, who has insisted on a softer approach.

"The relationship between Kai and Peter has completely broken down," an unnamed diplomat in Kabul told The Times.

The alleged argument illustrates differences within the international community over how to address allegations by challengers that President Hamid Karzai engaged in systematic electoral fraud to gain re-election. The Times said Galbraith wants the election commission to toss out results from 1,000 of the country's 6,500 polling stations and recount 5,000 others, while Eide is reportedly seeking recounts for 1,000 stations.

UN deputy in Afghanistan leaves after vote row

Tue Sep 15, 2009, 7:15 am ET

KABUL (AFP) –

The senior American diplomat in the UN mission to Afghanistan has left the country after an argument with his European boss over how to deal with election fraud, officials said Tuesday.

Afghanistan's August 20 election has been overshadowed by allegations of widespread vote-rigging and the final results are likely to be delayed another two to three weeks, Western and diplomatic officials said.

Peter Galbraith, deputy to UN special envoy Kai Eide, left Kabul on Monday, but is expected to return to Afghanistan soon, said UN spokesman Aleem Siddique.

Confirming there had been a difference of opinion between Galbraith, an American, and Eide, a Norwegian, Siddique said: "In any hotly contested election there are bound to be differences of opinion.

"But the UNAMA (UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan) leadership remains committed to taking action on fraud wherever it is detected so that Afghanistan's voters can have faith in the final outcome," he said.

Galbraith was in New York where he would be joined by Eide to brief the UN Security Council later this month, the UN spokesman said, adding: "We expect him (Galbraith) to return to Afghanistan soon afterward."

A Western consultant in Kabul said the relationship between the two men had "always been a bit tense" as Galbraith was more "hands-on" than Eide, described as preferring to maintain the status quo.

But, he said: "I don't think it is broader than Peter and Kai, it's not indicative of a systemic faultline between the UN and the US. But there are different approaches."

Those differences came to a head during a meeting with Afghan election officials to discuss how to deal with fraud allegations that have slowed the release of results and cast a shadow over the credibility of the ballot -- and the legitimacy of the winner.

President Hamid Karzai leads with 54.3 percent of polling stations counted so far, ahead of his nearest rival Abdullah Abdullah on 28.1 percent.

Ballots at 10 percent of polling stations are to be audited and recounted because of indications of fraud, said Grant Kippen, head of the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC).

Another source in the Afghan capital said Galbraith favoured increasing pressure on the Independent Electoral Commission "to do the right thing and ensure that the final results reflects the true, clean outcome."

The IEC, which is responsible for counting the votes, has no timetable for the release of preliminary results originally scheduled for early September, and has said the announcement of final results depends on the pace of the ECC investigations.

Western diplomats told AFP, on condition of anonymity, that they expect the final results to be announced in two to three weeks' time.

The IEC and the ECC are expected to release a joint statement clarifying the timetable for investigations -- undertaken by teams who must travel to each polling station where questionable votes have been detected.

"There will be a lot more unity," said one of the diplomats.

"The IEC is pretty much discredited and that's why the ECC was built into the system, for this contingency, to retain some credibility.

"No one guessed how much we would fall back on the ECC," he said.