KABUL: The United Nations announced Thursday it was evacuating more than half its international staff from Afghanistan after a deadly Taleban attack on a guest house for UN workers.
Spokesman Aleem Siddique said the United Nations would relocate about 600 of its roughly 1,100 international staff, with some being moved to safer sites within Afghanistan and the rest withdrawn from the country temporarily.
The move, a week after five UN foreign staff were killed by militants in Kabul, complicates US President Barack Obama’s counterinsurgency war strategy, which foresees an influx of civilian assistance alongside extra troops.
Obama is due to decide within weeks whether to approve a request from his commander in Afghanistan for tens of thousands of additional troops. US forces in Afghanistan have already doubled in the nine months since Obama took office.
The United Nations said the evacuations would not disrupt its operations in the country. “We’re doing everything we can to minimize disruption of our work during this period,” UN special envoy to Afghanistan Kai Eide told reporters at a news conference in Kabul.
“We are simply doing what we have to do following the tragic events of last week to look after our workers in a difficult moment while ensuring that our operations in Afghanistan can continue.”
Eide said some staff would relocate to Dubai where the United Nations has a facility and where it is “inside the mission area.”
Siddique said the UN staff would return in three to four weeks after its security measures were changed.
“At the moment we have 93 guest houses across Kabul and there will be a consolidation of those guest houses so that we can provide better security in fewer places,” he said.
The United Nations mission played a critical role in organizing elections in the country this year. In last week’s attack, Taleban suicide bombers hiding explosive vests under police uniforms entered a guest house used by UN staff and killed five foreigners.
