In a wide-ranging interview to the state-run Doordarshan, Brahimi also lashed out at Washington for its policies in postwar Afghanistan.

"Iraq was invaded and it is now under occupation. No matter what the people of Iraq say, the reality is that it is currently under occupation," Brahimi said.

The UN official drew a distinction between the US-led war against Afghanistan's Taliban Islamic militia and al-Qaeda terror network, and its recent military campaign to topple the regime of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

"There is a fundamental difference between the two as Afghanistan was not invaded," Brahimi said.

"This war (Iraq) was not necessary. It was not legitimate. The use of force cannot be obtained anywhere else except from the UN and it wasn't there in the Iraq situation," the UN envoy said.

Brahimi virtually blamed the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan, which saw the targeted killing of two foreigners this month, on the military policies of the United States.

"Let's call things by their name. If you want a country to stop being a hotbed and breeding place for terrorists, you cannot do it by running after individuals.

"The Americans were saying at one time that they are not interested in nation-building and that they are fighting terrorists but I think they realise that fighting terrorism is not about running with a gun and a horse and going after the baddies. It's done through reconstruction," he said.

Brahimi also conceded that efforts of the United Nations and the international community to rebuild war-wrecked Afghanistan after the November 2001 ouster of the Taliban had been tardy.

"They have nothing much to show people on the ground," he said, adding the efforts would be accelerated a "little bit" later in the year.

"They need two years for the peace process to become irreversible and at least five years for the country to stand on its own two feet," he said, rejecting criticism that UN must shoulder responsibility for the current instability in Kabul.

"From the day we arrived here when there was practically no government, we have been extremely conscious of the necessity to be in a position of supporting the government, rather than leading," he said.

"We have never wanted or tried to occupy the driving seat and are aware of the fact that we are foreigners and are here to help Afghanistan get on its own two feet. We are neither patronising nor pretending to lead."

SPACE.WIRE