AFGHANISTAN:President Hamid Karzai's last-minute derailment of carefully laid plans to appoint Lord Ashdown as the United Nations' top international envoy in Afghanistan has heightened concerns in Kabul's diplomatic community about the Afghan leader, writes Jon Boonein Kabul.
International officials reacted with consternation at what was, in effect, Mr Karzai's vetoing of the British statesman as the UN's new senior representative in Afghanistan at the World Economic Forum in Davos at the weekend.
The president said he had serious reservations about Lord Ashdown, who later announced that without Afghan support he was no longer prepared to do the job.
International officials have long worried about Mr Karzai, described by one diplomat as "a brilliant communicator but less than able as a public administrator".
Recently there have also been concerns about Mr Karzai's health: many believe he is politically isolated and overworked, particularly in the wake of two other big run-ins with the international community.
Mr Karzai created havoc on Christmas day when his government announced that it was expelling two diplomats from the UN and the European Union, who were accused of talking to the Taliban. Also at Davos he upset the British, criticising the UK military effort in troubled Helmand province.
One senior European diplomat described the president as "rather chaotic", lacking a "coherent management style".
"In a way he is a bit like a king: he spends so much time listening to other people that he then does not know what to do. He is completely overwhelmed in work and has not taken a proper break since 2001. He has had no time for mental reflection."
Afghan officials said the president had been alarmed by opposition from the Afghan media and worried about uncertainties surrounding the extent of the proposed mandate for Lord Ashdown, who enjoyed full executive powers while serving as the high representative to Bosnia. But a US official denied that Lord Ashdown had been pushing for a wider mandate.
Other diplomats pointed out that most of the press opposition to the appointment had come from government-controlled outlets - something Lord Ashdown himself noted in his letter to Ban Ki-Moon, UN secretary general.
Daud Sultonzoy, a member of the Afghan parliament, said the president had been given poor advice by his cabinet. "This erratic behaviour is a combination of his own temperament and because he is surrounded by a cabinet who are not capable of giving him good advice."
Another view within the Kabul diplomatic community is that Mr Karzai is asserting his independence from his western paymasters in the run-up to presidential elections next year.- (Financial Times service)