AFGHANISTAN: U.N. MISSION FACES GREATER SAFETY and SECURITY RISKS (UNAMA)

WorldLeadersTV: AFGHANISTAN: U.N. MISSION FACES GREATER SAFETY and SECURITY RISKS (UNAMA) MaximsNewsNetwork: 02 August 2013: United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan: UNAMA: Kabul, Afghanistan - A United Nations (UN) report released this week on the number of Afghan civilians killed or injured in the first half of the year showed a 23 percent rise compared to the same period last year. ( WorldLeadersTV: AFGHAN CIVILIANS KILLED or INJURED UP by 23 PERCENT: UNAMA's GEORGETTE GAGNON, See:    • WorldLeadersTV: AFGHAN CIVILIANS KILLED or...   ) This was because of an increase in the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) by insurgents and fighting between Afghan security forces and anti-government groups. And now the withdrawal of US and NATO forces by 2014 could cause and already nervous Afghan population's fear to grow. With the upcoming elections and the withdrawal of troops, both the Afghani government and UN mission (UNAMA) could face some challenges ahead. Just back from a visit to Afghanistan to assess staff and security issues, Kevin Kennedy, the acting under-secretary-general for the Department of Safety and Security at the UN said that the Afghan government was cautiously optimistic. SOUNDBITE (English) Kevin Kennedy, Acting Under-Secretary-General, Department of Safety and Security (DSS), United Nations: "They were I think reasonably optimistic that they could handle the challenges of the future. And they clearly were committed to enabling the UN to stay and to work and support us in any way they can and we're very close to the government there. I think we will probably be closer in the future and that should help a lot." Asked whether he had confidence in the Afghan security forces ability to tackle those security threats and protect civilians, he said it was "a work in progress." SOUNDBITE (English) Kevin Kennedy, Acting Under-Secretary-General, Department of Safety and Security (DSS), United Nations: "It's obviously a work in progress and the Afghan army, armed forces, the Afghan police have grown in great numbers in recent years. They're under constant attack particularly the police officers, they've lost thousands in the last year, they continue to turn out and work." Afghan forces have some of the highest desertions rate in the world. According to government officials, nearly 3,000 police officers have been killed in the past four months. There have been several attacks on the UN compounds in Afghanistan in the last few years, one of the worst being the attack in Mazar-e-Sharif where seven staff were killed. But Kevin Kennedy said that over the past six years there has been a "sea change" to the UN's approach to its security and field operations in what he called "stay and deliver". SOUNDBITE (English) Kevin Kennedy, Acting Under-Secretary-General, Department of Safety and Security (DSS), United Nations: "I think in years past when the difficulty things got rough, security incidence rose, the first sort of default mode of the UN was to leave, particularly with internationals, that's changed. With this stay and deliver approach, first of all, it really focuses on security, it's not a reckless kind of we're going to do it regardless of what the security conditions are, but it's to very carefully analyze the threat, the risk to UN staff and our operations and also how to mitigate those risks." Kevin Kennedy said that they now have weekly security assessment risks in Afghanistan and added that the key to security is not reaching a certain level of preparedness, but constantly questioning and innovating. United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan: UNAMA: Kabul, Afghanistan AFGHAN CONFLICT TAKES INCREASING TOLL on CIVILIANS in FIRST HALF of 2013 -- UN REPORT SEE http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp... MaximsNewsNetwork®™ & WorldLeadersTelevision™ News Network for the United Nations and the International Community™ "GIVING POWER & RESONANCE TO THE VOICE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY" ™ See: http://www.MaximsNews.com See: http://www.WorldLeadersTV.com ASIA100TVNet™ ASIATV100Net™ MAGNUMMAXIM™ TodaysNetworkNews™ WORLDMAGNUM™ GLOBALMAXIM™ TODAYSNETNEWS™ NewsNetworkToday™ NetworkNewsToday™ MaximsNewsEconomics™ MaximsNewsWorld™ MaximsNewsGlobal™ MaximsNewsGreen™ MaximsNewsWater™ MaximsNewsPeople™