Aid workers in Afghanistan increasingly under threat: U.N.

Aid workers in Afghanistan are increasingly under threat, the United Nations said on Saturday, calling it a worrying trend as most U.S.-led troops prepare to leave the country at the end of next year. "I am extremely concerned with this trend at a time when the country is in the midst of a difficult transition that may lead to increased humanitarian needs," U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator in Afghanistan, Mark Bowden, said in a statement. Bowden's comments followed the execution of nine aid workers in two separate incidents in Afghanistan this month. According to the Aid Worker Security Database, 73 humanitarian workers have been killed, kidnapped or injured in Afghanistan since the start of the year, more than recorded for the whole of 2012.