UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- The UN envoy to Afghanistan on Wednesday highlighted challenges facing the Asian country due to decades-long violence and instability, stressing that avenues for peace there must be explored with utmost urgency and seriousness.
"As one of the world's most aid-dependent countries, it will be difficult for Afghanistan to achieve self-reliance as long as there is conflict," Tadamichi Yamamoto, the special representative of the UN chief to Afghanistan, said while briefing the UN Security Council on the current situation in Afghanistan.
"Conflict diverts resources, which would be better spent on developing Afghanistan and helping its people," he said. "Peace is therefore a requirement."
Yamamoto, who is also head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), underlined the need to resolve political tensions between two senior leaders in the government to ensure that it is stable.
"No effective policies are possible if the government is internally divided," he said, noting that tensions had surfaced, with public criticism by Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah about what he viewed as the incomplete implementation of the political agreement of 2014.
Meanwhile, Yamamoto noted that the two leaders have met several times since then to try to identify the issues and to seek solutions and said efforts are still underway and further meetings are expected.
He called on the leaders to show to the people of Afghanistan and to the international community that they are able to govern effectively. He also welcomed the recent signature by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani of the legislative decree for electoral reform.
"The political agenda must progress constructively, political stability must be maintained; and the elections must take place," he said, telling the 15-nation UN council that the second anniversary of the 2014 political agreement that established the National Unity Government draws near, the political oppositions have increasingly challenged the legitimacy of the government.
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