KABUL (voa) – United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan is in Afghanistan for a short visit and a meeting with interim Afghan leader Hamid Karzai.
Mr. Annan arrived in Kabul early Friday morning aboard a special flight from Islamabad, where he held talks with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and other top officials on ways to secure regional support for Afghanistan’s post-Taleban government.
In Afghanistan, Mr. Annan is also scheduled to meet with the heads of U.N. agencies overseeing aid programs, such as including food distribution, public health and education.
He is expected to visit a school for girls to show support for the new Afghan government’s efforts to provide education to girls. The ousted Taleban regime barred girls and women from attending schools.
The World Health Organization and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees are making preparations for a return of more than one million Afghan refugees from Pakistan and Iran later this year.
Mr. Annan is likely to meet with commanders of the U.N. sanctioned International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) that has been credited with bringing relative security to Kabul.
The U.N. chief travels to Iran later Friday.
Thursday, U.N. Deputy Special Envoy Francesc Vendrell said he has found no evidence of Iranian interference in Afghanistan. He was referring to U.S. media reports that said Iran is trying to undermine Afghanistan’s interim government by arming and financing Afghan warlords based outside Kabul.
