November 24, 2003	Monday	Ramazan 28, 1424

KABUL: The United Nations is looking at ways of reducing international staff levels in the south, southeast and east of the country after a series of attacks on aid workers, a spokesman said on Sunday.

All road missions in those areas have been stopped and international staff from the UN refugee agency have been withdrawn to Kabul.

Earlier this month, a car bomb went off outside the UN offices in the southern city of Kandahar, injuring three people, and a few days afterwards a French UN refugee worker was killed in the town of Ghazni.

“We are looking at reducing operations,” UN spokesman David Singh said.

Singh said the United Nations would seek to maintain its assistance programmes despite international staff reductions.

There are just over 800 internationals working with the UN Assistance Mission to Afghanistan.

Remnants of the Taliban have declared a jihad, or holy war, on foreign troops in Afghanistan and on aid organizations.

Six Afghan aid workers were killed in September alone, and projects affecting hundreds of thousands of needy people have been suspended due to ongoing security fears.

The death of UN refugee worker Bettina Goislard in Ghazni was the first killing of an international UN staff member since the Taliban regime was ousted two years ago.

Goislard’s parents, who flew into Afghanistan for the funeral, met President Hamid Karzai on Friday.

“She honoured us twice,” the president told them. “In life she honoured us with her presence and work in Afghanistan and in death she honoured us by being buried in Afghanistan.”—Reuters