United Nations, March 16, 2010, SPA -- The new United Nations envoy for Afghanistan took up his duties this weekend tasked with overseeing the 1,600-person U.N assistance mission there known as UNAMA. Swedish diplomat Staffan de Mistura, who was previously head of the U.N.'s mission in Iraq, arrived in Kabul last Saturday telling reporters that his job is to support the Afghan government. "Whatever the United Nations will be doing in Afghanistan will be done to assist both the stability and socio-economic improvement of the Afghan people, remembering it should be Afghan-led and Afghan-owned, with total respect for their own sovereignty and independence," De Mistura said. The U.N. also announced on Monday that the 85 UNAMA staff, who had been relocated to Dubai after the October attack on a U.N. guesthouse in Kabul, have returned to resume their duties. Meanwhile, the U.N. children's agency said it is embarking on a three-day polio vaccination drive where it hopes to immunize eight million Afghan children under the age of five. --SPA 10:28 LOCAL TIME 07:28 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/759074