Security Council calls meeting on Afghanistan

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The United Nations said the Security Council will hold a special session on the situation in Afghanistan on Thursday, and diplomats said the issues of security and neighbouring Pakistan would be raised.
The U.N. press office said in a statement that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was expected to brief the 15-nation council at the meeting, which takes place at 3:30 p.m. EDT (7:30 p.m. British time).
“It’s a joint effort of trying to find solutions to the security issues we confront not only in Afghanistan, but also elsewhere,” Ban’s spokeswoman Michele Montas told reporters.
When asked if there was a possibility that Afghanistan’s November 7 presidential run-off election could be postponed, Montas said: “As far as I know, no.”
“We’re still continuing our electoral support,” she said, reiterating comments made by Ban on Wednesday.
U.N. diplomats said the meeting would touch on the issue of security in Afghanistan a day after Taliban militants attacked a U.N. guest house in Kabul, killing five U.N. staffers. They added that the precarious security situation in Pakistan would also be discussed.
The resurgent Taliban have vowed to disrupt the Afghan run-off election as U.S. President Barack Obama weighs whether to send more troops to Afghanistan to fight an insurgency that has reached its fiercest level in eight years.
(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau and Michelle Nichols; Editing by Philip Barbara)