World leaders are calling on the United Nations to take more of a role in Afghanistan, which has seen an increase in terrorist attacks in the last year.
The call came following a meeting between international foreign ministers, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and Afghan leader Hamid Karzai.
Canada was represented by Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Bernier. U.S Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also attended the meeting, which brought together 24 members of the so-called Afghanistan Compact, a plan adopted last year by the international community to stabilize Afghanistan. But so far there's been little progress in ending resurgent violence in the country.
Ban says the UN will be unable to go do more in Afghanistan as long as the country's security situation remains volatile. Growing numbers of attacks by Taliban and al Qaeda fighters are taking their toll on the Karzai government.
As CTV's Steve Chao reports from Kabul, an increasing number of Afghans and the country's political leaders are beginning to question Karzai's leadership.
One key leader, Abdullah Abdullah, a member of the Northern Alliance who helped topple the Taliban government, was initially an important Karzai supporter. Now, he says the achievements that were made in the early aftermath of the Taliban's defeat have slowly ebbed.
"We moved from strong government and effective government to less strong and less effective, to today's situation, which clearly I would call a weak government," he told Â鶹´«Ã½.
Abdullah says Karzai initially offered hope that he and his government would unite the country. But over the past few years, Afghanistan has become more and more divided.
Abdullah also blames Karzai for allowing acts of terrorism and violence to grow largely unchecked. He says Karzai has not done enough to train an effective Afghan security force and that's turning ordinary citizens against the government.
"The fact that people don't see a change, that is not acceptable for the public," Abdullah says.
Abdullah left Karzai's government last year and has refused to return despite requests from Karzai. He says he's still disenchanted with the leadership.
After Sunday's meeting, Karzai said he was willing to sit down with opponents in his country, including members of the Taliban, to help bring security to Afghanistan.
During his visit to the United Nations (where he'll address the general assembly this week), he has praised Canada's role in his country.
"Canada is one of the greatest contributors to Afghanistan's reconstruction and peace-building and institution building," he said. "It's given us a lot. It's given the life of its sons and daughters in Afghanistan."
He also said he would appreciate more Canadian support, whether it be military or financial aid to help reconstruction efforts in his country.
With a report from CTV's Steve Chao in Kabul
