Foreigners hunker down after Kabul hostel attack
Agence France-Presse | 10/29/2009 10:26 PM
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KABUL - Afghanistan's expatriate community hunkered down Thursday as the Taliban threatened fresh attacks ahead of next week's election and put foreign aid workers in the firing line with a deadly hostel assault.
The United Nations held an emergency security review in the wake of the bloody attack on the Bekhtar Guesthouse and charities ordered staff to limit movement until the country holds a run-off presidential ballot on November 7.
While many aid workers sleep in the offices of their organisations, others stay in private guesthouses such as the Bekhtar where the temptation to bolster security has to be balanced against the need to not attract attention.
A worker at one leading aid agency said staff were told to keep their heads down until after the election although he said restrictions on movement would be temporary and had been agreed before Wednesday's attack.
"We have restrictions on movements that are going to be imposed until the election but that was planned before yesterday's attack," he told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"Basically we are being asked to stay in the residences, we can move between the residences but we won't be going out to restaurants until the seventh."
While foreign aid workers and journalists in Iraq are usually confined to their offices, only venturing outside with armed guards, their counterparts in Afghanistan have enjoyed relative freedom -- particularly in Kabul where restaurants do a brisk trade thanks to expense accounts.
Many have so far refused to hire armed guards, however, fearing that it would make them more of a target.
One expatriate who has been running a guesthouse in Kabul since 2001 said it was important not to overreact and a higher security profile could be counter-productive.
"At the lodge, we try to remain low-key and don't like publicity. Our policy is low-key, non-aggressive guards," he said.
He recalled that previous attacks on Western targets, including a deadly assault on Kabul's luxury Serena hotel in January 2008, had rattled nerves but "after two weeks it just goes back to normal".
"We have journalists here who are a bit hardcore... Most are realistic and know there's a war going on."
A Taliban spokesman vowed Thursday that the militia would "intensify our attacks in the coming days. We'll disrupt the elections."
According to ACBAR, an umbrella organisation for more than 100 non-governmental organisations, 23 workers for aid organisations have been killed this year in 115 violent incidents.
"This situation has forced many aid agencies to restrict the scale and scope of their development and humanitarian operations," it said.
In a briefing at UN headquarters after Wednesday's raid, which ended with the deaths of at least five expatriate staff, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon offered no detail about what could be done to secure hundreds of UN staff in the country, many living in similar compounds to the type stormed on Wednesday.
"It is quite an unfortunate fact of life that we cannot ensure 100 percent the security because of these suicidal terrorist attacks," Ban said.
A UN spokesman in Kabul confirmed a meeting was held on Thursday to review security procedures but had no immediate details on its outcome.
However, a UN staffer said restrictions had already been imposed, and they were under 'White City' -- referring to a curfew that means foreigners have to stay in their compounds and even local staff should not venture out after dark.
"We have been told by our head offices to restrict our movements, to not go to certain areas such as a number of restaurants, supermarkets and Chicken Street," he said, referring to a shopping street popular with Westerners.
A member of staff at the EU mission said security had been beefed up.
"The number of security guards have doubled in our head office and other facilities. There are additional security guards around our guesthouses," he said.
One European aid worker said he and his colleagues had been asked to stay at home on Wednesday night but he intended to eat out on Thursday.
An official at the French embassy in Kabul said it was unrealistic to expect everyone to put their lives on hold.
"We cannot prevent everything and if we gave too strict advice it would interfere with people's private lives," said the official.
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