Dr. Abdullah withdraws from the runoff elections, accuses the authorities of bias in favour of Karzai; Six UN staff killed in an attack by Taliban at a guest house in Kabul; Ban Ki Moon calls for realistically assessing the situation in Afghanistan;
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  • Dr. Abdullah Abdullah withdrew from the run-off presidential elections scheduled for November 7. Speaking at a rally of his supporters on November 1, Abdullah accused the election commission of being biased in favour of incumbent president Hamid Karzai. Dr. Abdullah had also demanded the removal of chief election official, Azizullah Ludin and the suspension of ministers suspected of involvement in electoral malpractices during the August 20 elections.1 Stating that his decision involved a “lot of pain”, he added that it was not “the end of anything” but rather “a new beginning.”2

    The Taliban attacked a UN guest house in Kabul on October 28, killing six UN staff and wounding nine others. Condemning the attacks, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a realistic assessment of the situation and for putting in place more effective security measures. Mr. Ban pointed that 27 UN civilian personnel were killed during the year, over half of them in Afghanistan and Pakistan, He stated that the Taliban attacked the UN “precisely because of our support for the Afghan elections."3 UN special representative in Afghanistan Kai Eide described the terrorist attack as a “very dark day.”4

    In other developments, at least 14 American soldiers were killed as three helicopters crashed on October 26 in two separate incidents, making it the deadliest day for the US in more than four years. In the first incident, a helicopter crashed in the west of the country soon after leaving the scene of a firefight, killing 10 soldiers and three Drug Enforcement Administration agents. In the other incident, two US Marine helicopters collided in the southern province of Helmand, killing four American troops.5

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