Afghan

UN condemns deadly attack in Afghan capital

26 February 2010
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the United Nations mission in Afghanistan have strongly condemned today's attacks in Kabul which caused the death and injury of many Afghan and foreign residents and for which the Taliban claimed responsibility.
Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, in Kabul

Afghanistan: UN official urges steps to prevent child deaths in conflict

24 February 2010
A senior United Nations human rights official today called on international troops fighting militants in Afghanistan to follow directives designed to guard against civilian deaths, drawing particular attention to the plight of children caught up in the conflict.
UN Photo/Steve Tickner
UN Photo/Steve Tickner

UN studying proposed Afghan electoral decree

24 February 2010
The United Nations is currently studying a legislative decree that would give Afghan President Hamid Karzai the power to appoint all five members of the country’s Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC), which is supposed to be an independent body.
Kai Eide, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan

Top UN envoy to Afghanistan calls for greater political effort to end conflict

23 February 2010
The outgoing United Nations envoy to Afghanistan today warned that – on its own – the massive United States-led military push in Taliban strongholds in southern Helmand province will not bring peace and stability to the country.
Robert Watkins, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan

Latest loss of Afghan lives prompts UN call for safeguarding civilians

22 February 2010
A top United Nations official in Afghanistan has repeated the world body’s call for all parties to the conflict to avoid civilian casualties, after an international military operation on Sunday reportedly killed at least 27 people, including women and children, in the southern province of Uruzgan.
Afghan children (file photo)

UN envoy on children and armed conflict kicks off visit to Afghanistan

20 February 2010
A senior United Nations official today began a visit to Afghanistan to look into the situation of war-affected children, in particular the recruitment of child soldiers.
Robert Watkins, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan

Humanitarian actors need urgent funding to aid Afghans, says UN official

17 February 2010
A senior United Nations official today appealed for support for a nearly $900 million plan to assist Afghanistan’s most vulnerable communities who have been affected by natural disasters and conflict, as well as to support longer-term development and reconstruction.
Child being vaccinated against Polio in Afghanistan

Polio the target of UN-backed vaccination scheme in Afghanistan and Pakistan

15 February 2010
Millions of Afghan and Pakistani children will receive polio vaccinations this week as part of a coordinated effort by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN political mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) to tackle the spread of the deadly disease.

UN officials warn of threat to aid as fighting steps up in southern Afghanistan

15 February 2010
United Nations officials in Afghanistan have called on combatants to the current fighting between Afghan and NATO forces and Taliban militants in the south of the country to respect the neutrality of humanitarian workers and to allow the provision of aid to civilians displaced by the conflict.
Poppy field

Opium production in Afghanistan may fall in 2010, UN reports

10 February 2010
The cultivation of opium – raw material for the world's deadliest drug, heroin – in Afghanistan could drop this year, the head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said today, as bad weather is forecast during the country's current growing season.