UK envoy returns to Kabul

A new British envoy is flying out to Kabul to represent the UK during what the United Nations hopes will be the period of establishing an interim government in Afghanistan.

Andrew Tesoriere will be in what remains of the British Embassy in the Afghan capital on Thursday to begin a three-week posting, while the previous incumbent Stephen Evans returns to England.

Mr Tesoriere, 51, left Afghanistan only last year, where he was head of the UN special mission to the country, on secondment from the British Foreign Office.

He had led the UN mission since 1998, during which time he regularly negotiated with both Taliban leaders and leaders of the United Front main opposition group now forming a large part of the Northern Alliance fighting force.

Mr Tesoriere first worked in Kabul in 1976 as Oriental Secretary at the once vast British Embassy there, now bombed out with little more than the hospital compound remaining.

British sources said his experience in first-hand dealings with all the main players in Kabul would be vital as hopes rise that the UN talks in Bonn will result in an interim leadership for Afghanistan being agreed within the next few days.

Mr Tesoriere has in the past negotiated face-to-face with Taliban spiritual leader Mullah Omar, with sources saying that despite his fearsome reputation the British official had found him ‘‘unquestionably polite and soft-spoken’’.

The UK has not yet confirmed its presence in Kabul as ambassador rank, despite the normal rule that Britain recognises states not regimes.

But diplomatic sources thought it would be only a matter of time before an ambassador was appointed to a new Afghanistan broad-based administration if the UN talks were successful.

Facilities in the British compound in Kabul are spartan, but diplomats have been amazed at the ability of local staff to cope with the conditions.

Security is provided by British forces, who protect what was once one of the finest UK diplomatic residences ‘‘east of Suez’’, according to one seasoned diplomat.