“I heard that three or four NGOs were pulling staff out, but wasn’t able to get names or confirmation,” a United Nations official said of nongovernmental organizations, speaking on condition of anonymity as a matter of policy. “I do know that people are getting nervous and some people are bringing their Christmas holidays forward to go home earlier. I know quite a few people who have done that.”

The United Nations has raised its alert status from green to gray in response to the latest attacks, meaning staff members were still going to their offices but were avoiding unnecessary travel outside the office, both in Kabul and elsewhere, another United Nations official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the news media about the precautions.

“It’s more tense than it was three weeks ago,” the official said. “Everybody knows that. But our international officers, all of them are in town.”

Some businesses reportedly gave foreign employees the option of leaving the country early in response to the attacks, but there were no reports of any shutdowns.

Departures of foreign passengers had increased recently, said Mohammad Yaqub Rasuli, the head of the Kabul International Airport, but he said that was simply holiday-related. “The increase in their number is normal as in every year and has nothing to do with the security situation,” he said.

“We’ve taken some additional security precautions,” said Mike Fisher, an archaeologist from the University of Chicago, who works at the Afghan National Museum here. “But I don’t know anybody who’s leaving. A lot of my friends are actually staying for Christmas this year.”

“It’s a ‘better safe than sorry’ scenario,” said the second United Nations official. “But people aren’t making any long-term decisions to leave, other than those who already did.”