The UN Security Council on Thursday called for enhanced measures to protect UN staff supporting the electoral process in Afghanistan.
The 15-member body held an urgent meeting to discus the security situation of Afghanistan in response to Wednesday's terrorist attack on a UN
facility in Kabul, which killed 5 UN staff members.
Unanimously adopting a presidential statement, the council condemned the Taliban, "who claimed responsibility for the attack and continue to attempt to destabilize the country."
The council expressed strong support for the United Nations in fulfilling its "difficult but important tasks."
"The Security Council stresses the need to ensure security of United Nations staff and its support to this end," the statement said.
The council supports the "measures already taken by the secretary-general in this regard and looks forward to the further detailed proposals by him," it said.
The council also stressed that the upcoming run-off presidential elections "should be carried out as scheduled with the continued support of
the United Nations."
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon briefed the Security Council on the attacks against the UN facility and urged the council to extend support for the UN to step up security measures to protect its staff members.
Ban urged member states to "realistically assess the situation and put in place more effective protections."
He said he is also to brief the General Assembly on Friday to ask for "expedited action for our security measures, so that we can meet the dramatically escalated threat to UN staff, now widely consider to be a 'soft target,' as well as provide support for victims and their families."