* Galbraith to handle political issues in Afghanistan * U.N. denies tensions with U.S. over envoy Eide * Assisted Holbrooke in past (Updates) By Patrick Worsnip UNITED NATIONS, March 25 (Reuters) - The United Nations on Wednesday named as its deputy envoy to Afghanistan U.S. diplomat and academic Peter Galbraith, seen as close to U.S. point man for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke. But U.N. officials denied the appointment reflected U.S. dissatisfaction with the man who will be Galbraith's boss, U.N. special envoy Kai Eide. Galbraith, 58, a former U.S. ambassador to Croatia, succeeds Christopher Alexander of Canada as political deputy to Eide. Alexander completes his assignment at the end of March, U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said. Another deputy deals with humanitarian and development issues. Montas said Galbraith would handle electoral, parliamentary and other political issues in the conflict-ridden nation where a presidential election is due in August, as well as peace and stability, security sector reform and human rights. Montas dismissed media suggestions the United States was seeking to sideline Eide, a Norwegian diplomat, by having an American appointed as deputy. A March 17 report in The Times of London quoted an unnamed U.S. diplomatic source as saying Holbrooke regarded Eide as "useless and ineffective." "This does not reflect the reality," Montas said. She said that when U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington two weeks ago, Obama "had very strong praise for Kai Eide's work in Afghanistan and for the U.N. role in Afghanistan." Ban himself, in a statement on Monday apparently prompted by the Times report, commended Eide's leadership and noted the U.N. Security Council had done so too. NEGOTIATED END TO CONFLICT Galbraith, a fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation in Washington and son of the late economist John Kenneth Galbraith, was the first U.S. ambassador to Croatia after the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. He played a role in efforts led by Holbrooke to end the 1992-95 war in neighboring Bosnia. He later served in a U.N. transitional administration that prepared East Timor, a former Portuguese colony occupied by Indonesia in 1975, for independence in 2002. He has also written two books critical of the Bush administration's handling of the war in Iraq. Montas said Galbraith and Eide had been "friends for years." U.N. diplomats have said privately, however, that Holbrooke and Eide have had disagreements about Afghanistan. Eide himself, when asked about the Times report, said both of them had strong personalities and "short fuses." The appointment of Eide a year ago also excited controversy when Kabul rejected the first U.N. choice, Paddy Ashdown of Britain, after Western press reports said Ashdown would be an all-powerful "super-envoy" sidelining President Hamid Karzai. Eide heads the U.N. mission in Afghanistan, known as UNAMA, which has 1,300 civilian staff and deals with political reconciliation and aid issues. It does not control the military struggle against Taliban insurgents by U.S. and NATO troops. (Editing by Peter Cooney)
Pakistani policemen are seen as Pakistani tribesmen protest against the administration and demand more government assistance in a Jallozai camp, on the outskirts of Nowshera, near Peshawar March 25, 2009. The ...
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