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International staff pull out as precaution

The United Nations took the decision on Friday to withdraw all its international staff from Afghanistan, as a precautionary measure to avoid a backlash from additional sanctions on the Taliban movement, which are expected to be approved later this week. The head of UN assistance for Afghanistan, Erick de Mul, told IRIN on Monday that the withdrawal of international staff was “a temporary measure and would only be for a few days”. The UN has gradually reduced the number of international personnel in Afghanistan ever since the US and Russian proposal to the Security Council for further punitive measures on the ruling Taliban movement was made public. Before the decision to temporarily withdraw all personnel, the UN’s international humanitarian presence had dropped from 75 to only 26 staff in the last month. De Mul informed Taliban officials including the foreign minister, Mulla Muttawakil, of the possibility of withdrawing personnel earlier in the week. He was told by the latter that it would not be necessary as the Taliban authorities had taken measures to ensure that “nothing would happen” to the UN’s humanitarian programme nor its staff. Last year, demonstrations against UN offices in Afghanistan in response to the Security Council decision to ban international flights by Ariana Airlines and Taliban financial assets only took place after a 30 day grace period when the sanctions became effective. “Until then there had been some disbelief about the sanctions. This time there could easily be a reaction on the day of the [Security Council] decision as people know that after the grace period of 30 days, they will be implemented.” Although some of the demonstrations against UN offices turned violent last year, culminating in the ransacking of a UNHCR office in Kabul in one incident, de Mul said that throughout this period the Taliban had taken “deliberate measures to ensure that UN staff were protected”. De Mul does not expect much of a reaction in Afghanistan following the Security Council’s decision this time. “The Taliban leader, Mulla Omar has announced in the past that he does not want to see demonstrations against the UN. Also, ever since these new sanctions have been proposed, Taliban officials have made it repeatedly clear to us that they would prefer UN humanitarian agencies to stay. If all goes well over the next few days, then we will send staff back again after Christmas,” he said.

This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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