Last August, forty United Nations foreign staff members were withdrawn from Afghanistan after Carmine Calo, a military advisor to the United Nations, was murdered in Kabul. Calo was murdered in retaliation for U.S. missile raids. The U.N. is now preparing to return a limited number of its international staff to Afghanistan.
Before all employees return to work, some U.N. staff, including humanitarian and human rights workers, will assess the security situation in Kabul. The U.N. says it will not fully return until the Taliban assures its workers’ safety provides proof that it is actively searching to find Calo’s murderer.
Female U.N. workers who are Muslim are expected to follow the same harsh restrictions placed on native Afghan women. There is still no word whether the UN will convince the Taliban to lift these restrictions. A formal announcement of the UN’s return to Afghanistan is expected by the end of this week, according to officials.
