Japan and the United Nations are making final arrangements to appoint a Japanese diplomat to support the U.N. special representative to Afghanistan Lakhdar Brahimi, government sources said Sunday.
Hiroshi Takahashi, currently a U.N. senior political affairs officer stationed in Tajikistan, is likely to be sent to the Islamabad-based U.N. Special Mission to Afghanistan following requests from Brahimi, the sources said.
Takahashi, one of Japan's most knowledgeable diplomats on Afghan affairs, worked at the UNSMA from 1996 to 1998 after serving as assistant director of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's then Second Middle East Division. He supported Brahimi's efforts to mediate between warring factions in Afghanistan.
Takahashi studied Afghanistan's Dari language at Kabul University and is said to have access to members in the Taliban authority.
His proposed posting apparently reflects Japan's intention to contribute to the reconstruction of the expected post-Taliban Afghanistan.
Brahimi, a former Algerian foreign minister, resigned as the U.N. Afghan envoy in October 1999 after his mediation efforts hit a snag, but returned to the post at the request of U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States. The UNSMA withdrew from offices in Afghanistan after the attacks.