KABUL, Feb 4: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday declared Afghanistan a priority for the United Nations in 2009, and extended full backing in a quest for democracy and security ahead of key elections.

Ban was in Kabul on a surprise visit as the embattled country prepares in August for its second-ever presidential vote while facing an insurgency now at its highest point since a US-led invasion ousted the Taliban regime in 2001.

“For the United Nations, Afghanistan will be a priority in 2009,” Ban said at a joint news conference with President Hamid Karzai.

“I am here to demonstrate and to convey my strong commitment and support for peace and stability for... Afghanistan’s people,” he said.

Ban, who last visited Afghanistan in 2007, said he was determined to see Afghans enjoy full democracy and security.

But he said there had to be improved coordination among the nation’s many international donors to maintain progress and make “tangible changes” to people’s lives in the country, which is ranked fifth poorest in the world.

Besides holding talks with Karzai, Ban was due to meet Afghan lawmakers and a range of international officials, including commanders of the Nato-led force of 55,000 troops and representatives of UN agencies.

The UN mission in Afghanistan said Ban’s visit was intended to “underscore the priority the UN is placing on its work in Afghanistan.” The United Nations has said that security in Afghanistan reached its lowest point last year since the Taliban was removed from government with a spike in attacks, including on aid workers.

The United Nations has appealed for more than 600 million dollars in humanitarian aid for the country this year.

It says about 2,000 civilians were killed in insurgency-linked unrest last year, just over half of them in insurgent attacks and others as a result of international military action.

Violence has prevented UN and other aid workers from accessing large swathes of the country, and several World Food Programme aid convoys have been attacked and looted in recent years.

With the United States planning to boost assistance to the fragile country, including the deployment of up to 30,000 additional soldiers, the world body is also focusing more energy on Afghanistan.

UN special representative Kai Eide announced in December that the Afghan mission’s budget would double this year to 150-160 million dollars to help it address challenges that have “become more complex”.

This would allow the UN mission to increase the number of its staff from 1,500 to 2,000 and open more offices, Eide said.

The United States, the main provider of international aid and troops to Afghanistan, is still to announce a final decision on extra troop deployments.

Military commanders have said they expect Washington might send 15,000 to 30,000 more troops for the south, a Taliban stronghold where several districts are out of government control.

Improving security is a vital first step to any new approach in Afghanistan, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said on Tuesday.

The priority is to ensure that Afghanistan “does not once again become a safe haven for terrorists, a place from which they can plot and launch attacks against us or our allies,” he said.

“So additional forces are needed to ensure that it does not revert to that status.”—AFP