Afghan Security Reviewed by UN as Taliban Kill 11 in Kabul Raid

PR Log (Press Release) – Oct 28, 2009 – The United Nations said it’s reviewing security in Afghanistan after Taliban militants raided a Kabul guesthouse and killed at least five UN workers in a bid to disrupt next month’s presidential elections.

Three gunmen, armed with assault rifles, grenades and suicide vests, attacked at dawn yesterday and fired at international staff as they tried to escape.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the “despicable and brutal” killings, while the Obama administration said extremists wouldn’t succeed in spoiling the Nov. 7 vote. At least 11 people died, including the attackers, two security guards and the relative of an Afghan politician, the Associated Press reported.

The raid, carried out in a central Kabul neighborhood where many government and international organizations have offices, underscores the difficulty of securing Afghanistan from insurgents. The UN will “look at whether other appropriate measures need to be taken to protect all our staff,” Special Representative Kai Eide said in a statement.

The attack and a bombing yesterday in neighboring Pakistan that killed at least 97 people in a crowded Peshawar market, increased pressure on President Barack Obama to find a strategy to contain the Taliban and its allies.

“We watch this situation continue to deteriorate while this long, protracted process of decision-making goes on,” Republican Senator John McCain told CBS yesterday. “We’re not operating in a vacuum. The president of the United States needs to make this decision, and soon.”

Extra Troops

Obama, who is weighing a request by General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of U.S. and NATO-led forces in Afghanistan, to send more troops to Afghanistan, said earlier this week he wouldn’t rush a “solemn decision” on which lives may depend.

Gunfire and explosions echoed across Kabul during the two- hour raid carried out by gunmen wearing Afghan police uniforms, AP reported. As the guesthouse caught fire and filled with smoke, UN workers climbed over the roof or leapt from windows to escape, the news agency said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault and rocket attacks on the presidential palace and the luxury Serena Hotel, AP said. One rocket struck the outer limits of the palace, while two fell in the grounds of the hotel, forcing guests to flee to the basement. Nobody was injured, AP added.

Secure Residences

The guesthouse is privately run and on a UN list of residences the world body deems secure enough to host its workers, spokesman Aleem Siddique said.

One of the slain UN employees was an American, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul said in a statement. The UN isn’t announcing the nationalities of the others until families are notified.

Kabul has been on alert for a militant assault as Afghans prepare to choose between incumbent President Hamid Karzai and former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah. The capital has been hit several times in recent weeks, including a suicide bombing outside the Indian Embassy on Oct. 8 that killed 17 people.

The runoff was triggered by a partial recount of the Aug. 20 vote that found more than 1 million ballots, most of them for Karzai, were suspect, putting his tally below the more than 50 percent needed to win in the first round.

The Obama administration is “confident that there are appropriate resources to conduct an election and that the will of the Afghan people won’t be thwarted,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters in Washington yesterday.