21 October 2008 - “Yesterday’s killing of five children in Kunduz from a suicide bomb attack; the reports I have seen of beheadings and loss of life on a bus in Kandahar; abductions of innocent Afghans across the country; and the killing of a foreign aid worker in Kabul are of very great concern to me.

Dari - Pashto

“I have stressed many times over the past months the need for proper protection of civilians during combat. With these incidents there was no combat. The purpose of such attacks is to stoke fear among the wider population. I strongly condemn all such acts.

“My thoughts and the thoughts of all those working for the United Nations in Afghanistan are with the families and friends of those who have been killed and those whose loved ones remain missing.”