By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent

United Nations -- The former chief U.N. representative to Afghanistan Lakhdar Brahimi has told the U.N. Security Council that the international community and the Afghan government under President Hamid Karzai need to "chart the way forward carefully" to consolidate the political gains of the past two years.

Afghanistan's achievements since 2001 mean "there is now even more to lose and more to protect," Brahimi said. He said the challenges facing Afghanistan include implementing the constitution, improving security, organizing elections, and stopping illicit drug production.

Brahimi ended his tenure as the chief U.N. representative in Afghanistan in December. He has been appointed a special advisor to Secretary General Kofi Annan, but has not yet been given a special portfolio. He has denied rumors that he will become the U.N. special representative in Iraq.

Brahimi said the Loya Jirga or grand council, which adopted a constitution in December, has offered new hope to the Afghan people, but efforts are needed to avert false expectations.

Urgent steps are needed "to improve and accelerate the performance of the government and its international partners in implementing the Bonn process, lest these gaps undermine the progress that has been made," Brahimi said.

The key challenges are in broadening the popular base of the government and strengthening the system of government based on the rule of law, improving security, and increasing the pace of reconstruction and service delivery, Brahimi said.

Not enough progress is being made in those areas and "some of the gaps may even have widened over the past year," he said.

Brahimi cited several areas that need urgent attention -- growing disaffection among Pashtuns, Afghanistan's largest ethnic group, because of a perception that they did not receive a fair degree of representation in the government; lagging reconstruction in the south, east, and southeast because of lack of security; and more aid to help the government reach basic financial sustainability.

He said remnants of the ousted Taliban and supporters of Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar are mounting a growing threat to Afghan peace. He added that the extremists are now attacking U.N. targets in Afghanistan.

The attacks have limited the areas in which the United Nations and development organizations are able to operate and blocked reconstruction and development activities in the south, east, and southeast regions, he said. The escalating violence has affected the electoral process hindering voter registration and the holding of local elections, he added.

Brahimi said that it is vital that Pakistan and Afghanistan cooperate to counter the reported movement of terrorists and Taliban leaders moving freely in Pakistan and over the border into Afghanistan.

"The growing cooperation between the two countries against terrorists, criminals, and other spoilers deserves to be recognized, encouraged and strongly supported," he said.

The Afghan government should do much more to ensure that the Taliban and other extremists do not gain from dissatisfaction in the population, Brahimi said. The government must work harder to improve district self-governance, strengthen the formal and traditional justice system, increase the presence of police, and reach out with focused reconstruction assistance to communities, especially beginning in the south, Brahimi said.

The drug trade continues to be one of the biggest threats to Afghanistan's long-term peace and stability, he said. The trade supports the criminal and factional agendas that aim to undermine the central government and other legitimate economic activities and there are reports that drug money is also funding the activities of all sorts of extremists and spoilers, he said.

The U.N. drug program 2003 survey estimated that the income of opium farmers and drug traffickers was over $2.3 billion -- more than 50 percent of the country's GDP. Approximately seven percent of the population was involved in the farming of opium poppy in 28 of the 32 provinces, the survey said. In addition, a U.N. survey conducted in late 2003 found that farmers are intent on increasing their cultivation of opium poppy in 2004.

Stronger eradication programs need to be undertaken by a national force instead of by provincial authorities, and trafficking interdiction has to be intensified, Brahimi said.

Secretary General Kofi Annan also addressed the Security Council. He thanked the international community for its sustained commitment to peace in Afghanistan but added that there is "a need to reinvigorate" the Bonn process to support the reconstruction of Afghanistan.

He suggested that the international community and Afghans meet to assess the progress made and make new commitments to complete the process.