From Reuters.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Wednesday that officers of Afghanistan's ruling Taliban had assaulted several local staff working on demining operations there, adding to growing security concerns since the start of U.S.-led raids Sunday.

"We have received reports that the United Nations Mine Action Program and the NGOs working with them are increasingly being targeted in Afghanistan," U.N. spokeswoman Stephanie Bunker told a news conference.

"Demining staff in Kabul, Jalalabad and Kandahar were beaten by the Taliban," Bunker added. She said she had only just received the reports and had no further details.

Ironically, among the first casualties of the air raids were four Afghans working for a U.N.-funded demining office in Kabul. The United States said it was possible one of its missiles went astray and struck the building where they were staying.

Bunker said the Taliban Monday broke into the premises of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (UNOCHA) in the northern town of Mazar-i-Sharif and took away communications equipment.

"Our task is becoming more difficult day by day for various reasons since 11 September. What we see is shrinking operational environment for all U.N. agencies," another U.N. spokesman, Eric Falt, told reporters.

PAKISTAN INCIDENTS

"In Pakistan our concern has been and remains related to security over the past few days," he added.

Angry protesters burned part of the building of the United Nations Children Fund Monday in the southwestern city of Quetta and broke windows of the nearby U.N. refugee agency.

Yusuf Hassan, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said that, for the past three days, international staff had been stopped on security grounds from entering the tribal belt on the rim of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan where they were preparing sites for a possible refugee influx.

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I'm all for humanitarian causes, but for now, I think all humanitarian programs need to pull out of Afghanistan, and it's neighbors. Impossible to do good work under such sircumstances.

Marcia

* Justin, please remove my previous post above. Thanks.