UN to pull out non-essential staff from Afghanistan

The United Nations is to pull its non-essential foreign staff out of Afghanistan after a deadly Taliban attack on a guesthouse for UN workers, a spokesman said today.

"Around 600 non-Afghan staff will be temporarily relocated," Dan McNorton told AFP.

"The only people who will remain are regarded as essential staff....This is to ensure the safety of all our staff in Afghanistan."

Nearly all the 600 will leave the country although a small number could be relocated within Afghanistan, he added.

The decision would be regularly reviewed and was expected to be effective for "a number of weeks."

The move comes eight days after a Taliban attack on a hostel in Kabul in which five UN workers were killed.

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon held talks with security advisors in Kabul earlier this week in the wake of the attack at the Bekhtar guesthouse.

Speaking in the Afghan capital on Monday, Ban said the UN would not be deterred from its work in the war-torn nation by acts of violence.

"There has been speculation that the UN will evacuate Afghanistan...We will not be deterred, cannot be deterred and must not be deterred and the work of the UN will continue," said Ban.