Speaking at an event Monday previewing Sergio, HBO's forthcoming film about the life and tragic death of U.N.
diplomat Sergio Vieira de Mello,
U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke took what appeared to be an unplanned sideswipe
at Kai Eide, the former head of the
U.N. mission in Kabul.
"A few days ago I was in Kabul with General Petraeus, and we had 300 people
gathered in a conference room at the airport to discuss civilian military
relations in Afghanistan going forward," Holbrooke said.
"And we had the U.N. representative there with us, Staffan de Mistura, who had come from
Iraq ... a very good man, and we're very fortunate to have him. He's a
substantial step forward over what preceded him."
"And the issue came up in the meeting of what to do about
the elections coming up in Afghanistan. And the issue was: If there's a piece
of bad news to give to the government, who will give it? And de Mistura said
something that I thought kind of reflected the dilemma that the U.N. [faces]. ...
He said, ‘We get paid to get blamed for delivering the bad news on behalf of
everyone else.' I think it's a line he's used before."
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