KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - The United Nations may be forced to abandon its two-year effort to stabilize Afghanistan because of rising violence blamed on the resurgent Taliban, its top official here warned Friday in an interview with The Associated Press.
Lakhdar Brahimi said his team could not continue its work unless security improves. He called for more foreign troops to halt attacks that have killed at least 11 aid workers across the south and east since March.
``Countries that are committed to supporting Afghanistan cannot kid themselves and cannot go on expecting us to work in unacceptable security conditions,'' Brahimi said.
``They seem to think that our presence is important here. Well, if they do, they have got to make sure that the conditions for us to be here are there,'' he said. ``If not, we will go away.''
U.N. calls for international troops to fan out across Afghanistan's troubled provinces have grown shrill since a French U.N. refugee worker was gunned down in the eastern city of Ghazni in October.
The world body has suspended some operations in regions along the border, where Taliban militants and their allies have been most active, including help to thousands of refugees returning from Pakistan.
NATO, which commands a 5,500-strong peacekeeping force in the Afghan capital, Kabul, has agreed in principle to expand into the provinces. But nations have been slow to come forward with pledges of troops
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