UN pulls staff from Afghanistan
'Evacuation is not a withdrawal'
The United Nations announced yesterday it will evacuate more than half its international staff based in Afghanistan after a deadly Taliban attack on a guesthouse for UN workers.
But the UN said it had no intention of abandoning Afghanistan, where 100,000 US-led foreign troops are battling a bloody insurgency eight years after the extremist Taliban regime was driven from power.
About 600 expatriate staff, from a total of 1,100 foreigners, will be temporarily relocated either within Afghanistan or abroad, UN spokesman Dan McNorton said.
There was no immediate breakdown of the numbers, but Mr McNorton said the vast majority would be leaving the country on a temporary basis.
"The only people who will remain are regarded as essential staff. This is to ensure the safety of all our staff in Afghanistan," he said, adding the evacuations would begin immediately.
The UN has about 5,600 employees in Afghanistan, about 80 per cent of whom are Afghans, and the relocations will affect around 12 per cent of the total deployment.
The decision would be reviewed regularly and was likely to be effective for "a number of weeks while additional security is being put in place," Mr McNorton said.
In a statement, the UN said it was "fully committed to helping all of Afghanistan's people, as it has been for more than half a century".
"Every effort will be made to minimise disruption to our activities while these additional security steps are being taken," it said.
The move comes eight days after Taliban gunmen stormed a Kabul hostel in a dawn attack that killed five UN workers.
The head of the UN mission in Afghanistan, Norwegian diplomat Kai Eide, denied the evacuation amounted to a withdrawal from Afghanistan.
"We are not pulling out and will not pull out," he told reporters.
"The UN is putting in place immediate additional security measures for its international and Afghan staff.