ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- Taliban threats that foreign aid workers are "unacceptable" in Pakistan hurt the people in the flood-ravaged country, a U.N. spokesman said Thursday.
While the Pakistani Taliban did not make an open threat of violence, news reports suggested there was an implicit threat of attacks on foreigners, The New York Times reported, citing local news agencies.
Maurizio Giuliano, a spokesman for the United Nations, said U.N. relief organizations will continue to do their job.
"We are here for the people and will continue to deliver," Giuliano said. "Any potential attack against us would be against the people of Pakistan, whom we are here to assist."
Militant groups in Pakistan have also been collecting donations for flood victims and doing relief work, attempting to show they are more effective than the government. The philanthropic groups related to insurgent organizations responded quickly as they did to the 2008 earthquake.
