The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) is a political mission established at the request of the Government to assist it and the people of Afghanistan in laying the foundations for sustainable peace and development.

On 22 March 2010, the 15-member UN Security Council unanimously renewed UNAMA’s mandate until March 2011.

UN Security Council Resolution 1917 (2010) provides UNAMA and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan, Staffan de Mistura, with a mandate to support the Government in its efforts to improve critical areas, including security, governance and economic development, and regional cooperation, as well as to support the full implementation of mutual commitments made on these issues at the London Conference in January 2010 and the subsequent Kabul Conference in July 2010.

To fulfill its renewed mandate, UNAMA has prioritized its steps in the “3 plus 1” strategy for 2010:

·        Providing electoral assistance to the independent Afghan bodies created to organize and lead the parliamentary elections scheduled for 18 September 2010, specifically the Independent Election Commission (IEC) and the Afghan Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC);  

·        Fostering national dialogue and encouraging regional engagement by assisting Afghans in finding proper avenues to pursue constructive and inclusive dialogue and in fostering a conducive political environment;

·        Supporting regional cooperation through the ‘Kabul Silk Road’ initiative which brings together Afghan neighboring representatives to discuss and promote regional political, security and economic cooperation, including confidence-building measures;

·        Promoting coherence and coordination of UN and international aid by assisting the Government of Afghanistan in identifying its priorities and putting in place an Afghan-led coordination framework, as well as facilitating the alignment of donor activities to Afghan priorities.

The mandate also recognizes the critical importance of monitoring and coordination of efforts to protect civilians and support wider human rights, in particular the rights of women and children. In addition, UNAMA works hand-in-hand with United Nations agencies, funds and programmes providing a wide range of humanitarian support to the Afghan people as well as policy and programme support to various Government Ministries on development matters.

The framework for cooperation between the Government of Afghanistan, the United Nations and the international community has been outlined and agreed upon in a number of key documents and conferences including the Afghanistan Compact of 2006, the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS), the Paris Conference of June 2008 and the Afghanistan Conferences in London in January 2010 and in Kabul in June 2010.

Many key benchmarks are also complemented by the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of eight social and economic targets that governments agreed to meet by 2015.

KEY DOCUMENTS AND LINKS

Security Council Resolution 1917 extending UNAMA's mandate, March 2010 دری

Security Council Resolution 1868 extending UNAMA's mandate, March 2009 (Dari - Pashto)

Security Council Resolution 1833 extending ISAF's mandate, September 2008

Afghanistan Compact, 2006  (Dari - Pashto)

Paris Declaration, 2008  (Dari - Pashto)

Afghanistan National Development Strategy

International Security Assistance Force