Kabul, Nov 03: A delegation of UN Security Council envoys headed to Western Afghanistan's Herat province today on second day of a visit to show support for President Hamid Karzai and post-war rebuilding. The 15-member team of ambassadors and deputy ambassadors will meet Western strongman and Herat governor Ismail Khan and officials from the independent human rights commission.

Khan has been criticised for withholding from Karzai's central administration customs taxes taken from importers and exporters crossing his province's borders with Iran.

They met Karzai, foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, defence minister Mohammad Qasim Fahim, and vice presidents Hedayat Amin Arsala and Mohammad Karim Khalili yesterday, according to a United Nations statement.


No details were available of their talks. The delegation is the first of its kind to visit the war-shattered central Asian nation since the hardline Taliban rulers were toppled two years ago.

The UN statement said they were aiming to show "continuing international commitment to the peace and reconstruction process in Afghanistan," and international support to Karzai's government.

Before departing New York the head of the mission, German ambassador Gunter Pleuger, said they intended to deliver a strong message to regional warlords that Karzai has the world's backing and that they must cooperate to rebuild the country. Bureau Report