LONDON, Jan 27: Senior British politician Paddy Ashdown said on Sunday he has withdrawn his bid to become the United Nations’ new special envoy to Afghanistan, citing insufficient support from Kabul.

Ashdown said he had been offered the job by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and that Afghan President Hamid Karzai had initially supported the appointment.

But there were increasing signs that Kabul had cooled on the move in recent days, with some reports suggesting that Karzai thought Ashdown, the international community’s former envoy to Bosnia, wanted too much power. “This job can only be done successfully on the basis of a consensus within the international community and the clear support of the government of Afghanistan,” Ashdown said in a statement, after writing to Ban on Saturday.

“It is clear to me that, in Afghanistan at least, the support necessary to do the job effectively does not exist.

“I have therefore reluctantly decided to withdraw my name from consideration for this position.” Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta told reporters on Sunday he wished Ashdown “success”, adding Kabul’s objections were not down to Ashdown or his nationality but to a “negative atmosphere” created around the envoy role.“It’s better if our friends let us learn more and more by walking on our own feet, with our own experience,” he added.

The United States embassy in Kabul said it was “disappointed” at the news.

Ashdown, former leader of Britain’s smaller opposition party the Liberal Democrats and an ex-marine, gained a tough reputation during his time in post-war Bosnia from 2002 to 2006.

—AFP