KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - The U.N. mission in Afghanistan announced plans Thursday to relocate hundreds of foreign staff members, sending some out of the country, after a deadly attack last week on its workers at a guest house in Kabul.
The move, while temporary, was one more signal of mounting pressure on U.N. operations in the region. It came just four days after the United Nations announced it was withdrawing a much smaller number of international workers from northwestern Pakistan, where insurgents are fighting Pakistani troops.
In recent weeks, U.N. workers on both sides of the border have been singled out in deadly attacks in what appears to be a deliberate campaign by insurgents to undercut international support for the Afghan and Pakistani governments.
Five U.N. workers for the World Food Program were killed in a suicide attack at the program's offices in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, in early October. Last week in Kabul, three insurgents dressed in police uniforms scaled the front gate of a guest house used by U.N. personnel and mounted a terrifying two-hour siege in which five international staff members were killed.
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A U.N. spokesman, Adrian Edwards, said Thursday that about 600 international staff members would be temporarily relocated either to other places in Afghanistan or outside the country, primarily Dubai and Central Asian countries. The hope is that they will be able to return within three weeks to a month, but it could take longer to set up secure housing, Edwards said.
The United Nations has about 1,100 international staff members assigned to Afghanistan. The number of Afghan staff members is much bigger, about 4,500, Edwards said.
Kai Eide, the Norwegian diplomat who heads the U.N. mission in Afghanistan, said there were no plans to abandon the country. "We are not talking about pulling out," Eide said at a news conference in Kabul.
At the same time, Eide urged Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who is beginning a new term after a disputed election, to carry out sweeping reforms to combat corruption and restore confidence in his government.