“Effective immediately, the United Nations is taking additional steps to reduce risks to its national and international staff serving in Afghanistan. This is in light of the 28 October attack against UN staff in Kabul as well as further ongoing threats,” the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in a statement.

“Although details of the new measures can not be made public, it is expected that they will involve short-term relocations for some staff while additional security is being put in place,” the statement added.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on the guest house in Kabul, where 34 UN staffers were staying.

Some 600 out of the roughly 1,100 international UN staff in Afghanistan will be temporarily relocated, either to safer locations within the country or outside the country. The UN has around 6,000 people working across the country in total.

“We are not talking about pulling out and we are not talking about evacuation,” Kai Eide, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of UNAMA, told reporters in Kabul.

“We’re simply doing what we have to, following the tragic event last week to look after our workers in a difficult moment while ensuring that our operations in Afghanistan can continue.”

Last week Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pledged that the attack – which killed five UN staff and injured nine others – will not deter the world body from its mission to help the Afghan people build a better future.

“We stand by the people of Afghanistan today, and we will do so tomorrow,” he told a news conference in New York on the day of the attack.

UNAMA reiterated that the world body is fully committed to helping all of Afghanistan’s people, as it has been for more than half a century, and stated that every effort will be made to minimize disruption to its activities while additional security steps are being taken.

News Tracker: past stories on this issue

Afghanistan: Ban appeals to Member States for extra security for UN staff and premises