KABUL, Aug 22 (AFP) - The United Nations Sunday said it would not withdraw staff from Afghanistan despite escalating attacks on election workers and calls from a UN union representative to pull staff out of the country.
"There is no pull out of Afghan staff," UN spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva told a press conference.
He said the call for a withdrawal of staff from Afghanistan on Friday, a day after a bomb attack on a UN-backed electoral registration office in western Afghanistan, had not come from UN staff in Afghanistan.
"That did not come from the union in Afghanistan... It came from the deputy chair of the staff union in New York," he said.
The spokesman said while security remained "a matter of great concern" for the United Nations in the run-up to October 9 presidential elections, the world body was committed to the country.
Seven policemen were injured in a blast at an electoral office in western Farah city on Thursday. The attack followed another against an office for vote staff in southern Paktia province on August 15 in which two guards were injured.
Twelve electoral workers have been killed and 33 injured since May as a string of attacks have targeted voter registration sites, electoral offices and UN-Afghan electoral convoys.
Civilians and Afghan police have also been killed and injured in these attacks.
Despite the violence, voter registration wrapped up Friday with some 10.53 million Afghans, 41.4 percent of them women, registered to vote in the landmark elections, de Almeida e Silva said Sunday.
The United Nations, along with Afghan government representatives, is overseeing arrangements for the historic presidential election.
The Taliban militia, who were ejected from power in a US-backed operation, have declared their intention to sabotage the elections.