UN relocating staff in Afghanistan to beef up security

The United Nations will evacuate hundreds of its international workers from Afghanistan. The announcement follows the deadly Taliban attack against a UN guesthouse in Kabul, the most direct targeting of its employees during decades of work in the country.

The UN mission is still reeling from the pre-dawn Kabul assault which left five workers dead.

About 600 of the roughly 11-thousand foreign staff members will be relocated.

Aleem Siddique, UN Kabul Spokesman, said, "We will be looking as a temporary measure to relocate some staffs within the country and some staff outside of the country, while we can secure accommodation, where proper security measures can be provided for staff, as a temporary measure. We estimate that somewhere in the region of about 12 percent of our staff would be a affected Afghanistan."

But the spokesman says the relocation does not mean UN activities in Afghanistan will stop.