Paddy Ashdown’s decision to withdraw his candidacy for the position of U.N. special representative to Afghanistan will come as a body blow to those working to combat the rise of the Taliban in that shattered country. For a brief period of time it seemed as if Ashdown, who played a critically important UN-EU leadership role in Bosnia from 2002-2005, was going to lend his talents to the most critical security challenge facing NATO today. Unfortunately Ashdown decided to withdraw his candidacy on Sunday, apparently because he was not given the assurances necessary from President Karzi of Afghanistan.

Karzi had, briefly, supported the idea of Mr. Ashdown moving to Afghanistan in order to lead the critical aid and reconstruction mission. However, it seems that the Afghan President became fearful that Ashdown would have too much power and decided to kill the appointment.

There have been suggestions that Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. did not support Ashdown sufficiently (although Khalilzad denies this) but whether that is true or not, it strikes me as disappointing that the U.S. Administration did not push at the highest levels to secure this appointment. If an individual like Secretary of Defense Gates believes that Ashdown is the man for the job, he must work to get him to Kabul.

I’d like to see this issue get more attention – it is shocking that the international effort in Afghanistan, which needs more assistance than at any point since the winter of 2001, has lost a key asset such as Ashdown before he has even had a chance to start working. Ashdown is the type of individual the U.S. should be championing at the U.N. – he understands the U.N., E.U. and the U.S. and is, put simply, a man of action – something the international effort in Afghanistan desperately needs.

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