[3] He has also been posted as Special Adviser on the Balkans at the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as Norway's ambassador at the International Conference for the former Yugoslavia.

[3] UN deputy special representative in Afghanistan Peter Galbraith, Eide's subordinate, was fired by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon after he urged UNAMA to take actions to prevent fraud in the 2009 Afghan presidential elections and to take action, consistent with its mandate to support "free, fair and transparent" elections once the fraud took place.

After being informed of his dismissal, Galbraith wrote Ban Ki-moon a letter accusing Eide of helping to cover up electoral fraud and favoring Hamid Karzai.

He also urged the UN leadership to allow his successor to hire more staff from the United States and other Western countries, saying it would increase their confidence that their money is being properly spent.

[9] Shortly after this comment by Galbraith, Kai Eide accused Galbraith of proposing to enlist the White House in a plan to force the Afghan president Hamid Karzai to resign, and ultimately install a more Western-friendly figure as president, like former finance minister Ashraf Ghani or former interior minister Ali Ahmad Jalali.

Galbraith explained that he was merely trying to address a constitutional crisis precipitated by Karzai's maneuvering to stay in office a full year beyond the end of his term.

Nonetheless, Eide said that he told Galbraith that the plan was "unconstitutional" and "interference of the worst sort", which, if pursued, would provoke not only a strong international reaction" but also civil insurrection.

[10] In early 2010, Kai Eide put out the word that he had secret exploratory talks with Taliban commanders to discuss peace terms, as emerged end of that month during the International Conference on Afghanistan in London.