Bad news for Afghan war

The UN is sort of moving towards pulling out of A-stan after a Taliban attack in which 5 of its workers were killed: "UN to evacuate staff from Afghanistan." This is incredibly unfortunate, and undoubtedly exactly what the Taliban were hoping to affect with their attack. I think it's so repugnantly cynical of the Taliban to drive out the staff best placed to help develop Afghanistan for its people in the future in order to help their campaign now.

You'll recall that the UN pulled out of Iraq after a its headquarters were bombed in 2003, killing special representative Sergio Vieira de Mello and 16 others. I have read in various places that the UN's exit was a turning point for the worse in the situation in Iraq. I hope this isn't viewed the same way in the future. At the very least, that's just that many more US civilians that will be needed for our war effort (and we're already way short...).