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KABUL, Dec 11 (Reuters) - The top U.N. official in Afghanistan plans to step down in March when his contract is scheduled to end and has asked Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to find his replacement, a spokesman said on Friday.

"Kai Eide has asked the United Nations Secretary-General to start the process to identify his successor," the U.N. mission in Afghanistan said in a statement, adding "this is not a question of resignation".

Dan McNorton, a spokesman for the mission in Kabul, said Norwegian diplomat Eide was sticking to the terms of his two-year contract, which started in March 2008, and that he did not intend to stay on.

On Thursday, U.N. diplomats and officials said Ban and key Western powers were seeking a new U.N. envoy for Afghanistan to help lead the "civilian surge" U.S. President Barack Obama has promised will accompany an influx of 30,000 extra troops. [ID:nN10216914]

Relations between the U.N. mission in Kabul and other countries, especially the United States, have been strained since an Aug. 20 Afghan presidential election that was marred by fraud.

Eide's deputy, former senior U.S. diplomat Peter Galbraith, was fired after accusing Eide of playing down fraud in the vote.

(Reporting by Golnar Motevalli; Editing by Paul Tait) (For more Reuters coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan, see: http:/www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/afghanistanpakistan)

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