The United Nations may have to abandon its two-year effort to stabilize Afghanistan because of rising violence blamed on the Taliban, its top official in the country warned Friday.
Lakhdar Brahimi said his team could not continue its work in the war-ravaged nation unless security improves. He called for more foreign troops to halt attacks that have killed at least 11 aid workers across the southern and eastern portions of the country since March.
“Countries that are committed to supporting Afghanistan cannot kid themselves and cannot go on expecting us to work in unacceptable security conditions,” Brahimi said.
NATO, which commands a 5,500-member peacekeeping force in Kabul, has been slow to expand into the provinces.
The UN pulled staff out of vast areas of the country in October after the slaying of a 29-year-old French refugee worker in the eastern city of Ghazni.
