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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – A wave of violence sweeping the southern city of Kandahar has forced the United Nations to tell more than 200 of its Afghan employees to stay home, a U.N. official said Monday. Several foreign U.N. employees were temporarily moved to Kabul.
The announcement came hours after three bombings — one aimed at a top police official — shook the city and left two civilians dead.
U.N. spokesman Dan McNorton insisted the world body is not pulling out of Kandahar, but he declined to say how many employees would still work in the troubled city, where NATO is ramping up an operation to rout the Taliban. He would only say "several" non-Afghans had been moved to the country's capital.
Afghans working for the U.N. and other foreign organizations are frequently targeted by militants as well.
"There is always a balance to be struck to ensure the safety of our staff and ensure that we can deliver our programs and humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan," McNorton said. "We constantly have to adapt our ways of working."
"We will continue to monitor the security situation in Kandahar and hope to be able to get back to work as soon as possible," he added.
The U.N. has been on the defensive in Afghanistan since last October, when three suicide attackers stormed a Kabul guest house where dozens of staffers lived, killing five U.N. employees and three Afghans. The three assailants also died during the two-hour siege.
In the wake of that attack, the world body sent about 600 of its 1,100 foreign staffers either out of the country or moved them into more heavily secured quarters. Many eventually were recalled to Kabul; others chose not to renew their contracts or terminated their tours in Afghanistan early.
Two of Monday's blasts — which occurred within a minute of one another when bombs planted about 30 feet (10 meters) apart exploded in downtown Kandahar — were aimed at the passing convoy of Deputy Provincial Police Chief Fazel Ahmad Sherzad.
The announcement came hours after three bombings — one aimed at a top police official — shook the city and left two civilians dead.
U.N. spokesman Dan McNorton insisted the world body is not pulling out of Kandahar, but he declined to say how many employees would still work in the troubled city, where NATO is ramping up an operation to rout the Taliban. He would only say "several" non-Afghans had been moved to the country's capital.
Afghans working for the U.N. and other foreign organizations are frequently targeted by militants as well.
"There is always a balance to be struck to ensure the safety of our staff and ensure that we can deliver our programs and humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan," McNorton said. "We constantly have to adapt our ways of working."
"We will continue to monitor the security situation in Kandahar and hope to be able to get back to work as soon as possible," he added.
The U.N. has been on the defensive in Afghanistan since last October, when three suicide attackers stormed a Kabul guest house where dozens of staffers lived, killing five U.N. employees and three Afghans. The three assailants also died during the two-hour siege.
In the wake of that attack, the world body sent about 600 of its 1,100 foreign staffers either out of the country or moved them into more heavily secured quarters. Many eventually were recalled to Kabul; others chose not to renew their contracts or terminated their tours in Afghanistan early.
Two of Monday's blasts — which occurred within a minute of one another when bombs planted about 30 feet (10 meters) apart exploded in downtown Kandahar — were aimed at the passing convoy of Deputy Provincial Police Chief Fazel Ahmad Sherzad.
