Kai Eide had a final chance to stamp his mark on Afghanistan on Wednesday.
The controversial head of the UN Afghan Mission will soon step down after almost two years in the job.
He told the Security Council it’s time to reverse thinking within the international community away from the military towards the civilian.
“If we do not take the civilian aspects of the transition strategy as seriously as the military …. then we will fail. What we need is a strategy that is politically and not militarily driven."
Eide stressed one of the main objectives of the extra thirty thousand US troops that arrive this year must be to build the capacity of Afghan forces.
“A peace and reconciliation process must be launched and become an integral part of the political agenda. It must be based on the constitution and must be Afghan owned, Afghan led and if the insurgency agrees to join a peace process this will significantly enhance the prospect of troop withdrawals - however by joining a peace process the insurgents must distance themselves from the past and embrace the future."
On the fraud riddled elections in August, Eide was himself criticised for having not done enough to keep elections clean.
On Wednesday he was clear … there WAS fraud and interference by the international community.
"Both must be eliminated in future election processes."
But the man who criticised him for not doing enough to stamp out election fraud - former UN Deputy Special Representative Peter Galbraith - told al Jazeera, calling for a greater political role in Afghanistan is all very well but Eide's the man responsible for political failure in the country.
"He is the one who failed the political process because he failed in his primary responsibility which is the UN's responsibility which is to ensure an honest count in the Afghan election."
Meanwhile, Eide’s boss Ban Ki-Moon has issued his own report on Afghanistan.
He said there are no indications of early improvement in the security situation adding a better co-ordinated international effort is crucial to reversing overall negative trends.
Opportunities for greater international engagement will come up at the London Conference on Afghanistan scheduled for the end of this month.
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