The United Nations top envoy to Afghanistan, Kai Eide, announced on Friday that he is to leave his post in March 2010 after serving two years as the secretary-general"s special envoy. "When Kai Eide started this job, he had a two-year horizon-as had his predecessors," a statement from the U.N. mission in Afghanistan said. "Kai Eide has asked the United Nations Secretary-General to start the process to identify his successor. This is not a question of resignation. Kai Eide is sticking to the timetable that he outlined when he took the job in March 2008," the statement added. Eide is a Norwegian diplomat who has also served the U.N. in Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The U.N. mission in Afghanistan, which goes by the acronym UNAMA, is expected to take on an increased role in the country. There are some 1,500 people working for UNAMA, the vast majority, about 80 percent, are Afghan nationals.
