U.N. to pull out 900 staff from Afghanistan: source

Thu Nov 5, 2009, 12:20 am ET

KABUL (Reuters) –

The United Nations will evacuate 900 of its international staff from Afghanistan starting Thursday, citing security concerns, a U.N. source in Kabul said.

Taliban militants killed five foreign U.N. staff in an attack at their international guest house in the capital on October 28.

"The United Nations is reducing the number of its international staff from 1,300 to 400, effective immediately," the source told Reuters.

The U.N. source said the world body would determine how much staff were necessary to run on-going programs.

"We will be looking at bringing people back as soon as the security situation allows and secure accommodation is found," the source said. "Instead of having people dotted around the city, they will be consolidated."

A U.N. statement emailed to Reuters said it would not make details of the new measures public, adding: "It is expected that they will involve short-term relocations for some staff while additional security is being put in place."

(Reporting by Jonathon Burch; Writing by Yara Bayoumy)

Four Italian Soldiers Wounded in Afghanistan Blast

By Lorenzo Totaro

Nov. 5, 2009 (Bloomberg) --

Four Italian soldiers were wounded in a blast this morning in the western Afghanistan province of Herat, an Italian Defense Ministry spokesman said.

The soldiers were injured when a bomb exploded on a road 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the town of Shindand, Emanuele Cicerchia in the Italian army’s press office in Rome, said by phone. “None of the soldiers is in serious condition.”

About 3,000 Italian soldiers are in Afghanistan, mostly around Herat. Six Italian soldiers were killed when a car bomb exploded on Sept. 17 in Kabul, the deadliest attack against Italy’s forces in the country. On Oct. 28 Italy set aside 224.8 million euros ($332.2 million) to maintain its foreign- peacekeeping missions through the end of the year.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s government said last month it never authorized payments to Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, calling “absolute trash” a report in the London- based Times that the country’s secret services bribed warlords to keep some areas peaceful.

U.S. President Barack Obama was “impressed by the emphasis” Berlusconi put on the “need for peacekeepers to earn and maintain the support of local populations” in missions in Afghanistan and other countries, the Italian Prime Minister’s press office said yesterday in a statement quoting excerpts from a letter sent by Obama to Berlusconi.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lorenzo Totaro in Rome at ltotaro@bloomberg.net