AFP/Kabul
The Taliban yesterday levelled a stinging attack on the United Nations, ratcheting up pressure on the world body as it relocates 600 foreign staff in Afghanistan and reassesses its position in the country.
In a statement on its website, the Taliban accused the United Nations of “suppressing and oppressing” Muslims while supporting “arrogant invaders.”
The UN decision to temporarily withdraw 600 foreign staff - more than 50% of the current total — comes in response to a Taliban attack on a hostel nine days ago in which five UN employees and two Afghans were killed.
Referring to a pledge by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to bring the perpetrators to justice, the Taliban accused the world body of “horrendous” crimes in the eight years since the Islamist regime was pushed from power.
“They have their share in the mass murders of the Afghan people and are the cause of the tragedies and sufferings of the Afghans,” the statement said in English.
“During the past eight years, never a day has passed without the Americans and Western brutal forces not committing crimes, murder or torture against our people or not encroaching on our national and religious values,” it said.
“The strong reaction shown by the Security Council following the murder of a few Western staff members portray that this organisation has taken upon itself as its only duty to exclusively protect Western nationals and their interests.”
The statement came with UN staff leaving or preparing to leave Afghanistan — and to swap hundreds of premises for more secure compounds — amid a reassessment of security arrangements for 5,600 staff based in 20 offices.
Pulling staff back in such a manner risked the creation of “mini green zones” similar to that in Baghdad at the height of the Iraq war, said Norine MacDonald, president of the International Council on Security and Development.
“You end up creating Western enclaves which removes people from their contact with the Afghan community they are supposed to be working with and this is also very bad local politics. But it is certainly understandable why the United Nations feels the need to do that,” she said.
While the UN has stressed the withdrawal is temporary, a UN official speaking anonymously said that if the security situation continues to deteriorate “there is no question” a complete pull-out would be considered.
The UN faced “continuing threats,” he said, adding: “As long as there is no spike (in attacks), we have a security timeline of a couple of years.”
Afghan interior ministry officials have said they fear Taliban deployment of truck bombs, which would cause vastly greater damage and death than the sedans and SUVs used to date. |
