UN says 4 UN personnel killed in Kabul attack

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says four United Nations personnel have been killed in the "horrific attack" on a Kabul restaurant.

Officials say a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a Kabul restaurant filled with foreigners and affluent Afghans having dinner Friday night, while two gunmen sneaked in through the back door and opened fire.

The U.N. chief condemned Friday's attack "in the strongest terms," saying "such targeted attacks against civilians are completely unacceptable and are in flagrant breach of international humanitarian law," U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.

Ban said the U.N. personnel, who were not identified, were among at least 14 foreigners and Afghans killed, including a number of people from other international organizations. Kabul police say 16 people were killed.



Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140118/DABCUN483.html

[bemildred]

1. IMF and UN officials killed in Kabul restaurant attack

A senior IMF official and four UN employees were among 21 people killed in a suicide bomb and gun attack on a restaurant in Kabul, officials say.

Wabel Abdallah, the head of the IMF's Afghanistan office, and the UN civilian staff died in what UN chief Ban Ki-moon said was a "horrific attack".

Canadians, Lebanese, Britons and Americans were among the 13 foreign victims; the other eight were Afghans.

The Taliban said they carried out the attack late on Friday.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25790747

[bemildred]

2. Thirteen foreigners killed in Kabul restaurant attack

Kabul, 18 January: A total of 21 people, including 13 foreigners, died in a Taliban suicide assault in a popular restaurant in Kabul, police said today, with two British citizens and two Canadians among those confirmed dead.

Among the dead were two British citizens, two Canadians, a senior International Monetary Fund (IMF) representative from Lebanon, and the restaurant's Lebanese owner, who reportedly died after he tried to fire back at the attackers.

Four United Nations' staff were killed in yesterday's attack, though their nationalities was not confirmed.

Desperate customers tried to hide under tables as one attacker detonated his suicide vest at the fortified entrance to the Taverna du Liban and two other militants stormed inside and opened fire.

http://www.thestatesman.net/news/35086-thirteen-foreigners-killed-in-kabul-restaurant-attack.html

[Comrade Grumpy]

3. The Taliban reminds everyone they haven't gone anywhere.

[Jesus Malverde]

4. Taliban Attack on Kabul Restaurant Shocks Close-Knit Expat Community

Shock spread through Kabul's close-knit expatriate community after the Taliban killed 21 people, including the International Monetary Fund's mission chief and a senior United Nations official, in a dinnertime attack on a popular restaurant Friday.

With at least 13 foreigners—including at least two Americans—among the victims, this was the deadliest attack targeting foreign civilians in Kabul since the war began in 2001. Almost everyone among the diplomats, aid workers and journalists based in Afghanistan personally knew at least some of the people who died in the assault on Taverne du Liban.

The attack was prompting many foreigners to reconsider their decision to live in the Afghan capital. "It's shocking. Myself, I will personally not go to any restaurant at all," one foreign humanitarian worker said Saturday. Many international organizations in Kabul placed their personnel on lockdown or imposed movement restrictions following the attack.

The attack targeting foreign civilians in Kabul was likely to accelerate an exodus of expatriates, already under way as international aid shrinks and U.S.-led coalition forces prepare to withdraw from the country by December.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304419104579328061955204006

The restaurant's Lebanese owner was among the dead. Established several years ago, Taverne du Liban offered kebabs, fattoush and hummus to foreign—and Afghan—guests. It discreetly served wine to non-Muslims in teapots, and was famous for dishing out large complimentary helpings of chocolate cake with the check.

[Comrade Grumpy]

5. "an exodus of expatriates, already under way as international aid shrinks"

The gravy train is coming to an end. As far as I could tell when I was there, that international aid mainly bought flashy Hummers for aid workers to ride around in guarded by vehicles full of mercenaries, also being paid out of aid budgets. All of those tens of billions in aid were pretty good for the expatriate aid community, but didn't achieve much else as far as I can see.

The war is a racket.

The whole aid thing is a racket.

A bunch of people made a bunch of money, and a bunch of Afghans died.

[Comrade Grumpy]

6. There's an illuminating book about US efforts to provide development assistance.

"Little America: The War Within the War for Afghanistan," by Rajiv Chandrasekaran. Pretty disheartening stuff.